Lim Sian See
Again the usual lying rubbish from Sarawak Report to suggest that EPF and PNB are bailing out somebody !
The entire Battersea project is a multi-stage £8 billion project jointly developed by EPF, Sime Darby and PNB’s owned SP Setia.
What the so-called “bail-out” is for one phase of the multi-stage project, which is the actual powerplant itself (stage 2 of the project) other than the surrounding land which is also being developed in several phases.
If there is any bail-out, it is essentially PNB and EPF bailing out themselves! EPF and PNB effectively owns 70% of the project already. PNB owns SP Setia, which is one of the 3 parties (EPF, Sime Darby and SP Setia which owns the entire Battersea project)
Since Sime Darby and SP Setia are developers and not long-term fund managers, this is a technical arrangement that allows PNB and EPF to jointly own the phase 2 asset to collect long-term rental instead of outright sales as in phase 1 by taking out the shares of SP Setia and .Sime Darby
Phase 1 is an unqualified success with full take-up rate with one of their major tenants being Apple Inc for its UK headquarters.
Sarawak Report also makes the accusation that the profit margin has dropped from 20% to 8%!
An 8% yield is already very good for a property project and is much higher than our EPF dividend rates. If that is the yield that EPF and PNB is getting then, congratulations to them!
Sarawak Report also made the accusations that EPF, SP Setia and Sime Darby overpaid “thousands of times” compared to the original sale price of £1.5 million paid in 1987 (31 years ago).
Please lar Sarawak Report. This is London. The site is 39 acres in size. Do you think you can get 39 acres in one of the most sought-after locations in London for £1.5 million?
Look at Chelsea’s failed bid. It is already at least £1 billion just to convert the plant itself (not including surrounding lands) into a stadium:
https://www.theguardian.com/…/chelsea-battersea-power-stati…
The Battersea project in itself is also a major success with many articles praising the project.
(Here is one where Chelsea FC is feeling sorry for themselves for losing out in the bidding for the site: https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/…/the-daily-hilario… )
EPF, SP Setia and Sime Darby will make tens of billions of Ringgit from this project. No amount of lying propaganda from Sarawak Report can take this away from them.
Source: Lim Sian See
