JV with Ananda part of Mitsui Fudosan's Asean plan
Major Japan-based developer Mitsui Fudosan Co has set aside an overseas investment budget worth 500 billion yen (Bt150 billion) - with half the amount earmarked for Asean including Thailand, executive managing officer Takeshi Suzuki said.
The funds will be invested up until 2017.
“We have expanded the investment in Asia over more than 40 years – the first country was Singapore, followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, [mainland] China, Taiwan and Thailand,” Suzuki said.
“We’re also studying [whether] to expand the investment in other countries in Asean when the Asean Economic Community becomes [fully] effective in 2015, especially Vietnam and Myanmar.”
Suzuki said the company started investing in Thailand in 2012 by establishing a joint-venture company, Ananda MF Asia, with Ananda Development.
Ananda MF Asia is behind the Bt6.5-billion Ideo Q Rama 4 condominium project, and next quarter the company is slated to launch two condominium projects worth Bt10 billion in total – Ashton Asoke and Ideo Q Siam-Ratchathewi.
Suzuki said Mitsui Fudosan was interested to investing in residential, retail, and office developments in Asean because it saw demand in the market to tap all property sectors.
In Thailand, he said the company was also looking to invest in retail with Ananda Development.
“We believe that Bangkok is an urban city that still has strong demand for residential, retail, and office [buildings] at locations where there are mass-transit systems,” he said.
Ananda Development president and chief executive Chanond Ruangkritya said his company was interested in investing in retail facilities that would generate long-term rental income.
However, he said he would take his time studying the business opportunities and would be looking to invest in two or three years.
“If we expand our investment in retail or other property segments, we will ask our Japanese partner to do it with us,” he said.
4 condos
Chanond said that at the moment Ananda was focused on developing residential projects and would launch four new condominium projects worth Bt14.5 billion in total in the final quarter of the year.
Along with Ashton Asoke and Ideo Q Siam-Ratchathewi, there are Ideo Mobi Sukhumvit Eastgate and Ideo Mobi Wong Sawang Interchange, which Ananda Development is developing for Bt4.5 billion in total.
Chanond said half of Ananda Development’s investment budget would come from the company’s cash flow and the rest from a loan and the issue of a debenture.
The company plans to issue a two-to-three-year debenture worth Bt2.3 billion next quarter.
Ananda Development is targeting presales worth Bt6 billion from four condominium projects in the fourth quarter. The projects were initially slated for launch in the first half of the year.
It has targeted Bt11.5 billion in total presales this year after recording residential presales worth Bt3.8 billion in the first half.
Chanond said the company had maintained its revenue target of Bt9.07 billion for this year, with part of its backlog to be transferred to customers in the final quarter.
As of June 30, he said, the total backlog for residential projects – properties sold and awaiting transfer when projects are completed – was worth Bt17.5 billion.
The company reported revenue of Bt4.3 billion and a net profit of Bt429.11 million in the first half of the year.
