CapitaLand Group Commences Construction On Westgate
CapitaLand and its subsidiaries, CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) and CapitaMall Trust (CMT) commenced construction works at Westgate on 12 January, marking a milestone in the government’s attempt to transform the Jurong Lake District into a key regional business hub. Westgate, a shopping mall and office tower development will be a new icon in the Jurong Gateway. The development consists of a mall with 426,000 square feet net lettable area (NLA) and an office tower with 315,000 square feet NLA. The shopping mall will be CMA’s third mall in Jurong. Chief executive of CMA’s Trust Manager said that “with the three malls in Jurong – Westgate, IMM and JCude – shoppers can look forward in the equivalent of a three-in-one mall in the heart of the Jurong Regional Centre”. CMA plans to style the Westgate mall as a lifestyle mall while JCude will be positioned as an entertainment hotspot, existing mall, and IMM, has its focus on value with more outlet shopping.
Significance: The development is expected to be fully opened for business by end-2014. All three partners revealed their $1.5 billion Jurong project last June and expect rents in the mall to be in the range of $16-18 per square feet, with office rents going up to $8 per square feet.
Sembcorp Hoping To Grow Presence In Vietnam With New Study
Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) hopes to grow its utilities presence in Vietnam with a deal to study the feasibility of developing a 1,200 megawatt power plant. In a press release on 12 January, Sembcorp said that its subsidiary, Sembcorp Utilities, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the People’s Committee of Quang Ngai Province to look into a coal-fired power plant in the Dung Quat Economic Zone. Sembcorp is involved in a separate feasibility study to develop an integrated township and industrial park in the same area. In the statement, Sembcorp said that it aims to offer integrated solutions for the economic zone and to expand its utilities business in the region.
Significance: The deal will be the second in Vietnam for Semcorp’s utilities business, which has a 33% stake in a 749 megawatt plant in southern Vietnam. The possible new plant could tap on Sembcorp’s experience in its first foray into the market.
Ezra Reports Two-Fold Revenue Growth
Ezra Holdings (Ezra) reported 1Q12 revenue of US$180.5 million, more than twice the amount from 1Q11’s US$75.9 million. Revenue growth was driven by a US$64.3 million growth from its subsea services division because of the inclusion of AMC Group. Ezra’s other divisions, the offshore support services and marine services divisions, saw increases as well. However, Ezra’s bottomline was hurt by an increase in administrative expenses attributable to the integration of AMC Group as well as increased tax expenses. Lionel Lee, Ezra’s managing director said that with the successful integration of AMC Group, “a global subsea platform is now in place to execute the substantial backlog that we have accumulated over the last ten months”. Lee believes that Ezra’s subsea division is slated for a turnaround in FY12 as more projects are executed.
Significance: Revenue contribution from its subsea division now exceeds that of Ezra’s offshore support division. Moving forward, Ezra expects to fine-tune its subsea operations to improve its margins.
