This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 26, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity) said it is positive on prospects ahead for the group amid a challenging economic backdrop.

“IWCity has attractive tracts of waterfront land with developments that are progressing well. A prime example of this is our joint venture with Greenland Group to develop 128 acres (51.8ha) of prime waterfront land in Johor fronting Singapore,” IWCity chairman Datuk Ayub Mion said in a statement yesterday.

“The sales gallery was launched [at] end-2016, and the first retail units will be launched soon,” he added.

Apart from this, Ayub pointed out that IWCity on May 5 entered into a merger agreement with its holding company, Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH).

Subject to shareholder approval and all other regulatory approvals, this will see IWH consolidating the group’s land bank and assuming the listing status of IWCity, to establish one of the largest listed strategic master property developers on Bursa Malaysia.

The group suffered a setback recently after TRX City Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the finance ministry, decided to scrap the share sale agreement of a 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd to a 60:40 consortium between IWH and China Railway Engineering Corp (M) Sdn Bhd. The Bandar Malaysia project was considered the crown jewel of the IWH-IWCity merger exercise.

Earlier yesterday, all nine resolutions tabled in IWCity’s annual general meeting in Johor were passed by shareholders.

IWCity shares ended the day two sen or 1.14% lower at RM1.73 yesterday, bringing a market capitalisation of RM1.46 billion. The stock has been trading in a 52-week range of 79 sen to RM3.29.