AFFIN Bank Bhd expects to save an estimated RM26 million on annual rentals when it relocates to its new headquarters at Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) in Kuala Lumpur.
The banking group, which is currently renting premises at five locations, acquired 0.51ha of land in TRX for RM255 million in July 2015 to build the headquarters.
Group managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Jamil said back then the purchase price represented a 2.3 per cent discount to prevailing market valuation for land in south of Kuala Lumpur city centre.
Early this month, Affin Bank awarded a RM505 million superstructure contract to IJM Corp Bhd’s wholly-owned unit, IJM Construction Sdn Bhd, for the construction of the tower.
The Grade A office tower will have 47 floors, including a four-storey podium car park and a three-storey basement car park.
It will have gross floor area of 76,600 sqm and is expected to be completed by December 2020.
The tower will comprise a banking hall, business centre with an open plan office layout, auditorium and convention facilities as well as access to a mass rapid transit station via a sunken plaza, spacious outdoor terraces and sky gardens.
The new headquarters will be one of the most visible buildings in Kuala Lumpur city centre upon its full completion.
Affin Bank has said moving to TRX would help elevate the group’s brand and image.
The 28.33ha TRX, with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM40 billion, will encompass investment Grade A office space underpinned by world-class residential, hospitality, retail, leisure and cultural offerings.
IJM Corp MD and CEO Datuk Soam Heng Choon said the new Affin Bank headquarters contract was a recognition of IJM’s impressive construction and development credentials.
“It reinforced the group’s track record of building innovative and iconic high-rise projects in the city centre,” he said in a statement.
In November last year, IJM said it would develop and own the 27-storey Menara Prudential in TRX worth RM500 million, as well as build HSBC’s new Malaysian headquarters at a cost of RM392 million.
Soam said last month Menara Prudential was 93 per cent complete and on track to be ready by early next year. Prudential Group will move in before the middle of next year. Tenancy-wise, Menara Prudential has been 85 per cent taken up.
IJM is also building other prime Grade A office towers in the Klang Valley including Equatorial Plaza on Jalan Sultan Ismail, UOB Malaysia’s Tower 2 on Jalan Raja Laut and Uptown8 in Damansara Uptown.