KUALA LUMPUR: Amcorp Properties Bhd (AmProp) will be a big beneficiary of the weak ringgit as it owns properties abroad. 

Group managing director Ben Lee said the returns of the London projects would increase with the appreciation of pound sterling against the ringgit. 

As for the funding of the projects in London, he said the group has enough pound sterling to meet the commitment after the disposal of Merchant Square in Paddington, London. 

“Our loans are in pounds and our revenue is in pounds, so there is no need to hedge. As of now, we have enough pounds to meet capital commitment,” he told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting yesterday. 

Lee said AmProp's share of the ongoing projects in London has a gross development value (GDV) of about RM1.4 billion. These include Burlington Gate in Mayfair and Holland Park Villas, Campden Hill, which Amcorp owns a 25% and 16.7% stake respectively. The Burlington Gate project, which has a GDV of £275.8 million (RM1.78 billion), is expected to be completed in 2017; while the Campden Hill project, which has a GDV of £607.7 million, is expected to be completed by 2016 or 2017.  

Lee said the RM1.4 billion excludes the Bankside Quarter project, which will have a GDV of more than £1 billion. 

AmProp has a 30% stake in the residential-led mixed-development project, together with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, Singapore-listed Hotel Properties Ltd and Native Land of UK. 

The acquisition is expected to  be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015, while the completion of the project is expected to be in between 2019 and 2020.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 4, 2015.