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