KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 30): Amcorp Properties Bhd (AmProp), the property arm of Amcorp Group Bhd, had entered into a subscription and shareholders’ agreement (SSA) on Mar 27 with Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd and two other parties for the acquisition of two London properties for £308 million (RM 1.68 billion).

The property player said in an announcement on Saturday that the parties would undertake a mixed-used redevelopment on the property.

Subsequently, AmProp (fundamental: 2.40; valuation: 2.40) suspended the trading of its shares from 9am till 10am today.

As at 3:41pm, its counter climbed 4.49% or 3.5 sen to 81.5 sen, with some 125,400 shares changing hands. Last Friday, it dipped 0.64% to close at 78 sen.

To recap, AmProp said in a statement dated Mar 28 that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, SNL Ltd, had inked the SSA with Hubbard Investments Pte Ltd, HPL (Southbank) Pte Ltd and Clan Bankside Quarter (Jersey) Ltd.

Hubbard Investments Pte Ltd is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, while HPL (Southbank) Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hotel Properties Ltd.

Clan Bankside Quarter (Jersey) Ltd is jointly controlled by Montrose Land & Development Ltd and Tarras Park Properties Ltd, which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Buccleuch Estates Ltd.

The four parties involved in the acquisition and redevelopment of the two properties had set up a joint venture company named Bankside Quarter (Jersey) Ltd on Oct 27, 2014. SNL, Hubbard and HPL would hold 30% equity interest each in Bankside while Clan Bankside would hold the remaining 10% shares.

In conjunction with the entry into the SSA, Bankside had on Mar 27 entered into an agreement for sale and purchase with CEREP UK City Office Ltd to acquire the entire equity interest in CEREP Sampson House Ltd and CEREP Ludgate House Limited for £308 million cash.

CEREP Ludgate and CEREP Sampson respectively own the freehold interests in the properties known as Ludgate House and Sampson House.

“The property is located in London’s Bankside, adjacent to the River Thames and equidistant from London Bridge and Waterloo station,” it said.

The estimated total gross development value of the proposed redevelopment of the property is expected to exceed £1 billion (RM5.46 billion).

However, AmProp said it is still preliminary to disclose the details regarding the estimated total development cost or expected profits to be derived.

“All finance up to £133.33 million is to be provided by the joint venture parties by way of equity funding for ordinary shares of £1 each in the capital of JVCo and funding beyond this will be in the form of shareholder loans,” Amprop explained.

However, if Bankside requires further funding in respect of the joint venture, this funding can be sought from each of the joint venture parties.

Amprop said that the joint venture is part of a strategic move by the group to expand its property portfolio in central London and is in line with its vision of being an internationally admired property investment company.”

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)