GEORGE TOWN (Nov 11): The 109-year-old iconic Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) building within the island’s banking district is going up for sale via tender for a month beginning next Monday and property consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis (Malaysia), or CBRE Malaysia, believes that it will draw bidders from around the world.

CBRE Malaysia Chairman Christopher Boyd told the press today there is no reserve price for the neoclassical two-storey building with a 14,000 sq ft built-up area at No 9, Lebuh Pantai.

He said this was because the building was not being sold because of foreclosure and that RBS was also not keen on leading tenders.

“We believe people would be excited about the sale of this historical building and will be bullish about the price. The value is subjective. However, we would be surprised if the sale does not get an excess of RM15 million,” he said.

Sited within the Unesco World Heritage Site core zone, the building with English Renaissance influence was built during the Edwardian era and Boyd stressed that it was a "rare asset" that has never been on the market.

The building sprawls over 7,720 sq ft of land, with an attic tower and a basement vault. It was built in 1905 and used to house the Netherlands Trading Society, which operated as a financial house to promote Dutch trade, investments and shipping interests outside Holland.

According to CBRE Malaysia's fact sheet on the history of the building, the Netherlands Trading Society merged with De Twetsche Bank in Netherlands in 1964 to form the Algemene Bank Nederland NV or ABN Bank, which then later merged with the Amsterdamsche Bank and Rotterdamsche Bank to become ABN-Amro.

In Malaysia, ABN-Amro was incorporated on Oct 1, 1994, and continued to occupy the building until it was taken over by RBS in 2008.

Boyd said the Penang RBS branch operated its business here till last year, when its headquarters decided to consolidate its wholesale banking operation and serve its customers only from Kuala Lumpur.

As to why RBS does not want to keep the building and just rent it out, Boyd, whose company is handling the sale for RBS, said RBS was intent on picking its assets and rationalising its operations.

“It went through a year of internal process of decision-making. The bank is intent on picking its assets for them to be rationalised. The building was renovated in 2006 and even won an award from FIABCI Malaysia (The International Real Estate Federation),” he said.

Boyd said the potential of the building was enormous as it could be turned into a boutique hotel, art gallery, an office, or a private home.

“What is important is that the building has been saved from demolition because it is in the gazetted heritage site. It is one of the oldest buildings in Penang,” he said.
 
Interested bidders can get the full set of tender documents for RM250 from CBRE Malaysia.