KUALA LUMPUR: Magna Prima Bhd has received proposals for its premium 1.06 ha of land along Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, which once housed the SJKC Lai Meng school.
The Lai Meng school, with its wide, steeply sloping roofs, warm terracotta-red brickwork, and curving stairwells, is one of the city's last remaining examples of historic architecture.
It is surrounded by skyscrapers such as Hotel Maya, W Kuala Lumpur, and Wisma BSN, as well as the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, which are only 300 metres away.
According to Magna Prima, it has received an expression of interest to purchase the land (which now acts as a car park) for an estimated price of US$69 million, but it has not pursued the proposal further.
Magna Prima further said that the land, which is owned entirely by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Twinicon (M) Sdn Bhd, will not be developed anytime soon.
The company indicated in its annual report and CG report for 2022 (filed with the stock exchange on May 3, 2023) that this is due to the current weak market situation in the upscale real estate industry.
Magna Prima purchased the 1.06 ha of land in March 2009 for RM1,350 per square foot (psf), or RM148.2 million in cash.
The company also built new schools in Bukit Jalil for the landowner, Lai Meng Girls Schools Association, as part of the consideration.
Magna Prima had planned to develop the Lai Meng school land, into a RM1.8 billion integrated development with a plot ratio of 1:12.
The proposed project would consist of two distinctive 60-story skyscrapers. The first will be a grade A office with Green Building Index characteristics, while the second will be a mix of serviced apartments, a hotel, and offices.
The project never got off the ground.
Magna Prima chose to sell the land in 2015 in order to strengthen its bank sheet and refocus on other specialist projects.
Real estate marketing agent Rahim & Co. reportedly put up an expression-of-interest advertisement for the sale with a targeted price of RM3,500 per sq ft (psf), which works out to about RM400 million.
It was reported that Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) was interested in buying the land. The pension fund had offered about RM3,300 psf and talks were going on for months, but nothing was formalised.
In 2017, the market valued the land at about RM3,400 psf, which works out to a price tag of about RM388.03 million.
This was slightly higher than the RM3,300 psf (RM446.7 million) paid by Singapore-listed developer Oxley Holdings Ltd. in November 2013 for a 3.2-acre plot of property along Jalan Ampang.
According to a recent listing on propertyguru.com.my, there is a three-acre tract of commercial land for sale on Jalan Yap Kwan Seng in the KLCC region for RM3902 psf or RM509.9 million.
Meanwhile, Hua Yang Bhd became a significant shareholder of Magna Prima in January 2017 after purchasing a 10.84 percent stake for RM66.6 million.
Hua Yang then expanded its position in Magna Prima to 30.96 per cent three months later, becoming the company's largest stakeholder.
The new shareholder's initial emphasis was to assist Magna Prima on the operational side following the latter's resubmission of plans to enhance the plot ratio and amend the component for approval of the Lai Meng land.
Hua Yang chief executive officer Ho Wen Yan said back then that the company aimed to unlock the Lai Meng School land by March 31, 2020.