Sunway REIT ropes in three corporate heads

KUALA LUMPUR: In a rare move, Sunway Bhd's real estate investment trust (REIT) arm roped in three corporate leaders to come on board as shareholders.

The group yesterday had proposed to dispose a 20% equity stake in Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd (SRM) to Millenium Pavillion Sdn Bhd (MPSB), which is controlled by Datuk Lim Say Chong, Oh Kim Sun and Ng Sing Hwa.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Sunway said SRM has disposed of 200,000 RM1 shares in the company to MPSB for RM28 million.

"With its extensive experience in the corporate world and wide network of contacts, MPSB would be able to add value to Sunway REIT by providing additional leads for property acquisitions as well as strategic insights at the Sunway REIT board level as MPSB will be granted a seat on the board of Sunway REIT," Sunway said in the announcement.

Lim, Oh and Ng have experience in the property, banking and manufacturing industries.

Lim is currently chairman of Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd and an independent non-executive director of Mulpha International Bhd.

Oh currently serves as a member of the board of directors for a number of public companies including Pharmaniaga Bhd, UEM Land Holdings Bhd, Faber Group Bhd and Nikko Electronics Bhd.

Ng is executive chairman of Bertam Alliance Bhd, a construction services company.

Meanwhile, Sunway REIT said the disposal of the 20% stake results in an immediate gain on disposal of RM26 million.

This is based on Sunway's original cost of investment of RM200,000, which was made on Aug 18, 2011.

Following the disposal, the shareholding of Sunway Bhd and MPSB in Sunway REIT will be  80% and 20% respectively.

Sunway has also entered into a shareholders' agreement with MPSB which entails the nomination and appointment of four directors while MPSB is entitled to nominate and appoint one director in SRM.

Sunway will also have the right to nominate the chief financial controller and the asset managers of Sunway REIT, subject to the approval of SRM's board.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 16, 2013.