Bangkok Apartments | Bangkok Condos | Bangkok Serviced Apartments

Raimon set on keeping prime sites

Bangkok Post Mar 28, 2009 Plots on Ratchadamri, Phloen Chit not for sale The listed developer Raimon Land is determined to keep two prime plots on Ratchadamri and Phloen Chit roads despite strong interest from investors, says chief operating officer and director Kitti Tungsriwong. ''We will not sell them. They are very prime,'' Mr Kitti said yesterday. His comments followed the release of an analyst's report from Siam City Securities showing a drop in the company's cash on hand to 336 million baht at the end of 2008, from 549 million at the end of the third quarter. The analyst said Raimon Land's debt-to-equity ratio at the end of 2008 had risen to 2.13 times from 2.04 times at the end of the third quarter. ''The financial status of Raimon Land has become more risky due to stricter loan extensions from financial institutions,'' said the analyst. Raimon has slowed down development plans for the two plots and revised the investment as the world economic crisis has weakened both purchasing power and foreign investment. The four-rai plot on Ratchadamri Road had been earmarked for 185 Rajadamri, a luxury condominium with 200 units priced higher than 300,000 baht per square metre. Raimon acquired the seven-rai site on Phloen Chit Road in the third quarter of last year from a group of Thai and Taiwanese investors led by Tan Passakornnatee, with a selling price reported to be 1.2 million baht per square wah. During the negotiations for the Phloen Chit plot, the company also looked at a two-rai site close to Center Point on Wireless Road. It set up a subsidiary, Wireless One Residence Co Ltd, for the acquisition but the deal never went ahead. ''Now the subsidiary is just a shell,'' said Mr Kitti. ''This year we will concentrate on two projects with no investment in new land plots.'' The company's focus will be on the Northpoint Pattaya condominium, construction of which should be completed within the year, and The River, a luxury condominium worth 14 billion baht on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. He said the company was not worried about construction of both projects as it had project loans. The River has a credit line of 5 billion baht from three banks including Standard Chartered, TMB Bank and Siam City Bank. Currently, the 5-billion-baht Northpoint has sales of 3.25 billion baht while The River has reported sales of 7.8 billion. The company yesterday held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, at which it confirmed a stock dividend of 0.0837 new shares at one-baht par apiece and a cash dividend of 0.0093 baht a share to pay taxes. Mr Kitti declined to comment on reports that Raimon was laying off staff. However, a former employee told the Bangkok Post that the company announced its latest layoff scheme on Wednesday, offering severance pay plus one-month salary. ''This was not the first time as it had done a few rounds of layoffs since late last year,'' she said. Raimon shares closed yesterday on the SET at 0.19 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 580,000 baht.

 

< Prev		Next >