S'pore land sold to consortium

S'pore land sold to consortium

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): The Singapore government Friday sold a large land site to a consortium of Singapore and Hong Kong-based companies a price below market expectations, the Business Times reported Saturday.

A 1.14 hectare site in an area earmarked as the island's new downtown, was sold for S$462 million (about US$260 million) to a consortium comprising Singapore's Keppel Land, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hongkong Land, the newspaper reported.

This was lower than market expectations ranging between S$560 million and S$800 million, it added.

This is probably the second time in the recent past that the government has awarded such a large project to Hongkong groups after Suntec City, which is owned by Hongkong tycoons Li Ka-shing and Run Run Shaw, the report said.

This land will kick off the government's plans for the new downtown, billed as Singapore's next financial hub, which was delayed by the Asian financial crisis after the site, first tendered in November 1997, found no takers then, the report said.