Hiap Hoe Holdings throws in the towel, buys all unsold units at Treasure on Balmoral

In order to dodge hefty fines.

Upscale condominium development Treasure on Balmoral stands empty at Balmoral Road. After several attempts to sell the property, its mainboard-listed developer Hiap Hoe, along with its JV partner SuperBowl Holdings, has finally given up.

In a release to the SGX, the company revealed that its controlling shareholder, Hiap Hoe Holdings, is buying all 48 units in Treasure on Balmoral, after the company failed to sell any of the units in the project.

The property was initially launched for sale in September 2012 at an initial launch price of between $2,044 to $2,375 per square foot. In October 2013, Hiap Hoe appointed Savills Singapore as its exclusive marketing agent for the divestment of the property via a private treaty, with the sale price pegged at a much lower $2,100 psf.

Hiap Hoe was still unable to find a buyer at this price. The company then launched an Expressions of Interest exercise for the property’s bulk sale in July this year with a guide price of $1,850 psf.

“Following the close of the EOI exercise in August 2014, the Group had not received any satisfactory offers and the offers received contained terms and conditions which were not favourable to Hiap Hoe SuperBowl. The highest offer received by the Group for all the Properties was S$1,750 psf or an aggregate price of approximately $181 million for all the Properties, which represents a price that was 5.4% to 19.8% less than the EOI guide price,” Hiap Hoe stated.

Hiap Hoe Holdings is buying all the units in Balmoral to avoid paying hefty extension fees under the qualifying certificate rules. The total purchase consideration for the deal is $72,833,151, which will be paid in cash.

The purchase consideration represents approximately 19.45% of the latest audited consolidated net tangible assets of the Group of $374,536,721 as at 31 December 2013.