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NG TENG FONG was larger than life.
My
first experience ever with the founder and Chairman of Far Eastern
Organization in Singapore, NG TENG FONG was when he
passed through town in the 1980's and roared at me "Do you want this
deal or not?". We had just a few hours to itemise
everything and negotiate a purchase because he was leaving town that
afternoon. From that moment onward, I learned the skills
of How To Deal With Asian Tycoons including responsiveness and
attention to detail He
came through Vancouver a second time with his friend FUNG KING-HEY,
the founder of Sun Hung Kai Finance in Hong Kong, who Merrill
Lynch paid $65 million USD in 1982 to get a toe-hold in
Asia.
Elder son ROBERT NG has grown
family fortunes in Hong Kong operating as Sino
Land.
Younger son PHILLIP
NG has taken over operation reigns locally in Singapore, continuing
to be a significant player in the market.
Headlines
" Property
tycoon Ng Teng Fong's Far East
Organization was the biggest buyer in the property investment market in
Singapore last year (2006) with about $1.6 billion worth of deals under its
belt"
Far East to pay attention to high-end
homes
Influx of overseas players has raised the bar in prices and quality: CEO
Far East Organization will pay more
attention to the high-end property market, which has grown too big to
ignore, says CEO Philip Ng.
 
'In the past, we concentrated our efforts on the mass market serving
entry-level private home buyers as well as buyers of mid-market condominiums
and landed homes.
'Today, this very wealthy segment of the
market has grown too significant to ignore. We must therefore augment our
organisational machinery, in terms of our product development and sales and
marketing capabilities, to address this,' Mr Ng says in the group's in-house
publication Landmark.
Mr Ng also stressed that as Singapore
shapes up as a vibrant international city, it is seeing new players from
overseas with 'high standards and deep expertise' and 'flush with cash and
hungry for projects'.
'They have raised the bar in prices and
quality and changed the nature of the game.' Mr Ng observed.
'We need the right frame of mind and
resolve to compete in this new league,' he said, stressing that it was
imperative for the group to lift its level of performance as the 'stakes
have become much higher now, with the heat in the market and soaring
replacement costs'.
'For if we do not sell at the right
prices, when we go back into the market, we are actually topping up more
equity. We would be doing what is uneconomic, that is, selling low and
buying high,' he said.
At the other pole, income-driven demand
also looks more promising. Mr Ng said that sustained robust economic growth
and a strong job market will translate to rising incomes.
'There will be more purchasing power to
support the domestic segment of the property market - the mass-market,
entry-level, and mid-market condominiums and landed properties which have
remained subdued thus far.
'In the next few years, we expect the
middle market to play catch-up with the international market in terms of
transaction activity with some price upswing,' he said.
Far East sold 869 residential, commercial
and industrial units worth $725 million last year. [2007] But while the
group's business showed improvements across all fronts, 'we were not able to
meet our targets in property sales and in the leasing of our portfolio of
residential, retail and industrial assets'.
Far East, set up by Mr Ng's father,
property magnate Ng Teng Fong, last year bought nine sites costing about
$1.6 billion in Singapore. They will yield in total 3.1 million square feet
of buildable area. This is the largest land bank investment Far East has
made in a single year, exceeding the total of $1.54 billion invested in land
and property acquisitions in the preceding six years from 2000 to 2005.
Besides the nine sites, Far East's Hong Kong-based sister company Sino Land
bought the Collyer Quay site last year for $165.8 million.
- 2007 March 14 THE
BUSINESS TIMES
Phillip Ng is said to be most interested
to involve internationally acclaimed JAMES K. M. CHENG of Vancouver involved
in some of their future projects.
HONG
KONG
Elder son ROBERT NG runs
family fortunes in Hong Kong operating as Sino Land and his proven himself
time again that he is able to compete with the Big Boys in Hong
Kong.
Sino Land pays
HK$1.64b for choice Kowloon site
Price reflects expected 15-20% rise in
home prices
Robert Ng's Sino Land yesterday beat six
other developers to secure a West Kowloon site for HK$1.64 billion (S$385
million), a price which analysts say reflects his expectation of a 15 to 20
per cent rise in home prices.
Yesterday's land auction was the first
this financial year, netting the Hong Kong government a total HK$2.97
billion for the four sites sold. That's more than the total land auction
receipts of HK$2.68 billion for the whole of last financial year.
Nicholas Brooke, a property consultant at
Insignia Brooke, said the auction reflects developers' optimism on prices in
urban areas, such as West Kowloon. 'You cannot bid nearly HK$2,000 average
price per square foot for a site unless you expect prices to go up 15-20 per
cent. Clearly, the people bidding expect prices there to grow over the next
18 months to two years.'
Sino Land's winning bid was nearly 40 per
cent above analysts' expec tations and much higher than the tender price of
HK$1.1 billion that Lee Shau Kee's Henderson Land put in for the West
Kowloon lot from the government's Application List.
Bidding for the site was brisk, with
companies such as Ronnie Chan's Hang Lung Development and Henderson vying.
But in the end, Sino Land put in just one bid at HK$1.64 billion to clinch
the deal.
Analysts say that the price was
'expensive' at HK$1,944 psf for the 10,450 sq m site. Sino Land is well
known for being prepared to pay top dollar and, in particular, it is still
remembered for paying high prices at land auctions before the Asian
financial crisis.
But a company spokesman said yesterday
that the price for the West Kowloon lot was 'reasonable'. Sino Land already
has two other developments in that area and is planning a resi dential-cum-commercial
development on its new purchase, he added.
Henderson Land vice-chairman Lam Ko-yin
described yesterday's auction as the 'liveliest in the last four years'.
Developers were confident in bidding because the economy is now steadying,
the government's housing policy is stable and interest rates are low, he
said.
Auctioneer and Assistant Director of
Lands Allan Hay also felt that yesterday's auction reflected confidence in
the market. 'Competition for all the sites was very good. Today's auction
indicates that people still have confidence in investing and building units
because they have confidence that they can sell them on the market, despite
all the comments about surplus supply.'
The second site sold yesterday was a
14,700 sq m plot for private residential development in Kowloon Tong.
Legislator James Tien's Manhattan Garments is believed to be the developer
who beat two others with a HK$570 million bid.
A third 19,300 sq m plot in Shatin went
for HK$660 million to Nan Fung, while the fourth, a 3,720 sq m plot in
Stanley, was sold to Tai Cheung Property for HK$100 million.
Hong Kong's property prices are still 50
per cent off their peaks in 1997, but some analysts say a rebound could
start this year.
Mr Brooke, for one, expects prices in
urban areas to rise 15 per cent within the next two years, while he sees
prices in outlying areas taking another 3-4 years to recover. -
2002 April 16 by Audrey Tan
Singapore
Business Times
Sino Land is in negotiations with fund
managers about the possible sale of its 108-unit Sky Horizon luxury project
in North Point, according to executive director Robert Lee Chi-hong.
Mr Lee yesterday said falling interest
rates had prompted many investors to look to the luxury market.
Its Sky Horizon project, with units
ranging in size from 1,300 square feet to 1,400 square feet, received
several offers from foreign funds in Singapore, Australia and the United
States, Mr Lee said.
But he refused to disclose details,
saying the parties were still working out prices.
Sino Land was also considering reserving
one block of the development for long-term investment, he said.
Mr Lee said the firm was preparing to
launch an internal sale on the project.
However, real estate agents said the
developer had sold more than 10 units yesterday at prices from HK$6,800 to
HK$7,800 per square foot. Many buyers were local investors, agents said.
Mr Lee expected a sell-out of the 108
units could realise about HK$1 billion.
He said the property market was on the
road to recovery in light of the low mortgage rates and the improved
home-buying confidence in some of the new developments.
He hoped to draw more investors in future
projects. -
13 December 2001 South
China Morning Post
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