Tender for Laguna Park en bloc sale closes
unsuccessfully
SINGAPORE : Owners of the Laguna Park estate along Marine
Parade Road have failed to sell their properties in a collective
sale.
According to the marketing agent, Credo, only two bids
were received when the tender closed on Tuesday, but none were to
the satisfaction of the sales committee.
The Laguna Park's collective sale tender raised many eyebrows when
it was launched a month ago, because the owners wanted a whopping
S$1.2 billion for their estate. Many analysts thought the price was
too high.
As it turned out, the marketing agent said one local company, whose
shareholders are based in Indonesia, more than matched the reserve
price. The unnamed company, in fact, bid S$1.7 billion.
But Credo said by Thursday evening, the firm decided to pull out
because it could not get its bankers to provide the funds for the
bid.
Credo said the second expression of interest came from a prominent
local developer. MediaCorp understands the developer is now
expected to further negotiate with the majority owners before
settling on a firm price.
For now, there is no deal from the tender process which has
closed.
Reactions from residents have been mixed.
"I'm indifferent. It's God's will. It doesn't matter to me... I'm
not disappointed, neither am I ecstatic," said Laguna Park resident
Ng Beng Hong.
"I'm very (upset) because we wasted so much time putting together
the sales committee... And we'll have to redo this whole effort
again the next time round again," said Mrs Liew, another Laguna
Park resident.
Laguna Park owners are scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the
failed tender.
The next step is for majority owners to enter into any private
treaty deal by December 19 before the collective sale agreement
expires. If there is no deal by then, the entire collective sales
process will have to be restarted again.
- CNA /ls