Thai Golden Land, Morgan Stanley

Thai Golden Land, Morgan Stanley
establish US$85 million venture

Thailand's Golden Land Property Development and the Morgan
Stanley Real Estate Fund on Thursday announced a joint venture to
develop a residential project in Bangkok.

The 3.6 billion baht (US$85.71 million) project is a sign that
the country's growing property market is attracting international
interest.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, the property arm of U.S.
investment bank Morgan Stanley, will hold a 65 percent stake in
the project and Golden Land the remainder, said Liakat Dhanji,
Golden Land's chief executive.

The project will involve the development of a 54,300-square-
meter (584,000 square-foot) luxury residential complex in
Bangkok's central business district, expected to be completed at
the end of 2004.

The deal is Morgan Stanley's first direct property investment
in Thailand.

"We believe that these types of projects will herald a new era
of growth and development for the Thai property market and for
the country's economy," K.S. Kalsi, head of Morgan Stanley Real
Estate Fund Asia, said.

He said his fund has around $15 billion available for
investment in global real estate projects. He declined to provide
information regarding the fund's future investments. Dow Jones