BT : OUE expected to take up option to buy The Grangeford - 3 Aug 07

[Dan @ 94 777 977]

Published August 3, 2007

OUE expected to take up option to buy The Grangeford

OVERSEAS Union Enterprise is expected to exercise a put-and-call option
signed in June to buy The Grangeford, after lawyers confirmed that owners
controlling at least 80 per cent of share values have agreed to sell the
Grange Road property.

CB Richard Ellis executive director Jeremy Lake said OUE's unit land price
remains at $1,810 per square foot per plot ratio, including $92.7 million
payable to the state to top up the 130,982 sq ft site's lease to the
original term of 99 years.

However, OUE will be now paying Grangeford's owners $625 million instead of
the $592 million agreed in June. The higher price comes after the Urban
Redevelopment Authority said Grangeford's existing gross floor area (GFA) is
equivalent to a 3.027 plot ratio - instead of the 2.87 based on an
architect's calculations earlier.

The new development on the site will be allowed to retain the existing
equivalent plot ratio of 3.027, and OUE has signed a supplementary agreement
to top up its bid to $625 million to reflect this. No development charge is
payable for the site.

The option in June was subject to the collective sale being approved by
owners controlling at least 80 per cent of share values.

'The last few signatures were obtained a few days ago but we were waiting
for confirmation from the lawyers that the signatures were in order. We
received this confirmation on Wednesday night,' Mr Lake said.

The option can also be exercised by the vendors, triggering the sale to OUE.
Both sides now have up to Aug 15 to exercise the option.

With the Grangeford deal now set to go ahead, its unit land price of $1,810
psf ppr will be used as a benchmark in negotiations for other prime
collective-sale sites, market watchers reckon.

Grangeford's $1,810 psf ppr is the highest price paid for a 99-year
leasehold residential site in Singapore, surpassing the $1,104 psf ppr paid
by a Wing Tai unit in June 1997 for a site in Draycott Park, which it has
since developed into the Draycott 8 condo.

For a freehold site, the current benchmark, set in June, is SC Global's
acquisition of The Ardmore for $2,337 psf ppr.