TA Corp wins contract for Dairy Farm site

TA Corp, an established property and construction group, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tiong Aik Construction, has secured a S$116.7 million construction contract from Bukit Timah Green Development, a 50:50 joint-venture company between Meadows Bright Development, an associate company of TA Corp, and First Shine Properties, an associate company of Hock Lian Seng Holdings. The contract is to design and build a 99-year leasehold private residential project on a site in Dairy Farm Road, which TA Corp and its JV partners won on Sept 26, 2012.

Located within the Dairy Farm Estate, the residential site will be developed into a 400-unit private condo with amenities such as basement carpark, swimming pools, clubhouse and other communal facilities. Construction is expected to commence in 1H2013, and to complete by 2015. With this latest contract win, the order book for TA Corp's construction business stands at S$486.5 million, and will be progressively recognised over the next 36 months.

TA Corp also entered a joint venture with its Thai partners to develop a mixed-used project near Bangkok. This is TA Corp's first project in Thailand. The joint venture was formalised with the subscription to Sireerin Signature Co's 980,000 preference shares of THB10 each, totalling THB9.8 million (S$389,703). This gives the company 70% voting rights, while the Thai partners will hold the remainder. TA Corp has been active in regional markets. The group's ongoing regional joint venture projects include 25.37% equity in a township project in Dalian, China, as well as a 49% stake in a company involved in the development of 21 semi-detached villas in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

This story first appeared in The Edge Singapore weekly edition of Dec 10-16, 2012.