By Khairie Hisyam
The Sultan of Johor has emerged as a 20% stakeholder in Berjaya Times Square Sdn Bhd (BTS), owner of the Berjaya Times Square Mall in Jalan Imbi following a RM250-million buy-in, according to an announcement yesterday.
In its filing to Bursa Malaysia, Berjaya Assets, which owns the other 80% of (BTS), said the cash disposal will see Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Al-Haj own 150 million shares in BTS, which is primarily involved in property investment, property development and investment holding.
Situated on a 10-acre land parcel along Jalan Imbi, the Berjaya Times Square Mall boasts a gross built-up area of 7.5 million square feet comprising a 12-level shopping mall, 46 storeys towers of service suites and hotel, five basement levels and 10 floors of annexed car parks.
BTS in turn owns three subsidiaries, two of which run its car park and theme park operations respectively at the mall while the third owns and manages Berjaya Waterfront in Johor Bahru which has properties spread across 18 acres of prime Johor land.
Berjaya Assets said the shares sale will realise an exceptional gain of about RM7.02 million at the company level while Berjaya Assets will see an exceptional loss of RM149.15 million at the group level.
Accordingly, the group’s retained earnings will also be reduced by RM149.15 million.
However, the sale allows Berjaya Assets to raise immediate cash in addition to opening the door for the Johor Sultan to invest directly in BTS, said the group, adding that this enables the Johor Sultan to participate more actively in the future direction of BTS.
At RM250 million, the price translates to RM1.67 per BTS share. Berjaya Assets said the proceeds will be used for working capital and future investments of the group.
At 11am, Berjaya Assets was traded at 89.5 sen per share, up 2 sen.
Flush with cash
Sultan Ibrahim Ismail
The Johor Sultan’s investment into Berjaya Times Square follows his RM4.5-billion land sale to a Chinese developer earlier this month, which comprises four parcels of vacant freehold land and two parcels of reclaimed freehold land.
KiniBiz understands that the purchase price will be paid in four instalments but RM100 million has already been paid as deposit, which will be deducted from the first payment.
The buyer, Hong Kong-listed Guangzhou R&F Properties, is planning residential and commercial developments over six parcels of land with an estimated saleable floor area of approximately 3.5 million square meters.
You must be logged in to post a comment.