PF sells Dara shares for housing focus

PF sells Dara shares for housing focus

Metroluxe Rosegold Phahol-Sutthisan, located on Sutthisan Road, has been sold by Property Perfect to Plus Property.
Metroluxe Rosegold Phahol-Sutthisan, located on Sutthisan Road, has been sold by Property Perfect to Plus Property.

SET-listed developer Property Perfect Plc (PF) will focus only on residential developments after selling all its shares in Dara Harbour Co, one of its subsidiaries that plans to develop a shopping mall in Sri Racha, to Central Pattana Plc (CPN).

PF managing director Wongsakorn Prasitvipat said the company sold the retail subsidiary to CPN two days ago, as it has no expertise in retail.

On Monday, PF reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) that it sold all 26 million ordinary shares or a 65% stake in Dara Harbour Co to CPN at a par value of 10 baht per share for combined 291.75 million baht.

"Proceeds from the share sales will help increase our liquidity and also be used as working capital for the investment and development of our residential projects," said Mr Wongsakorn.

The remaining 35% of Dara Harbour is held by IT firm Faima RBDS International (30%) and Ascend Development Co (5%). Dara Harbour was founded in September 2015 with registered capital of 400 million baht.

According to Dara Harbour's past business plan, it will develop a shopping complex on a 34.5-rai leasehold plot under a 30-year contract on Sukhumvit Road in Sri Racha district, Chon Buri.

With a total construction area of nearly 200,000 square metres, the complex will comprise a four-storey shopping mall with a total lettable area of 64,000 square metres and three residential towers.

"We are still looking for a retail partner for We Retail Co, one of our subsidiaries for retail development," said Mr Wongsakorn. "As a developer, we don't need to be good at everything."

PF yesterday also signed a contract with property consultant Plus Property Co, a subsidiary of SET-listed developer Sansiri Plc, to sell Metroluxe Rosegold Phahol-Sutthisan, one of PF's condominium projects.

The project will be located on a three-rai site on Soi Inthamara 14 on Sutthisan Road with a sales value of 1 billion baht.

It will comprise two eight-storey towers and a total of 317 units sized from 25-60 sq m and priced from 2.19 million baht per unit or around 90,000 baht per sq m on average.

The project will be one of five new condominium projects worth a combined 8 billion baht PF plans to launch in the second half.

The other projects will each be located on Charan Sanitwong 13, Wuttakart, Sukhumvit Soi 77 and Seri Thai.

It aims to have 14.5 billion baht in presales by the end of 2017, up from 10.75 billion baht in 2016, revised down from an earlier target of 18 billion baht due to low condo presales in the first half.

"The higher bank mortgage loan rejection rate was a key factor that made our condo presales miss the target as we did not have new condo launches in the first half and focused instead on completed units. But we will work harder in the second half," he said.

Segments with higher mortgage rejection rates include condos priced below 2 million baht, townhouses priced lower than 3 million baht and single houses priced lower than 7 million baht.

PF share prices closed yesterday on the SET at 0.86 baht, down one satang, in trade worth 1.14 million baht.

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