UOL-CapitaLand JV exercises call option to purchase Thomson View en bloc for $810 mil

Thomson View sold en bloc for $810 million to UOL-CapitaLand joint venture (Photo: Edmund Tie)

Singapore-listed UOL Group announced on Nov 25 that it has exercised its call option to purchase Thomson View Condo en bloc for $810 million. A payment equivalent to 5% of the purchase price, inclusive of a 1% option deposit of $1 million, will be made within seven business days of exercising the call option.

On Oct 26, UOL and CapitaLand Development (CLD) entered into a put-and-call option agreement to purchase Thomson View Condo for $810 million.

The deal was contingent on 80% of the owners, by strata area and share value, signing a supplemental agreement to lower the reserve price from $918 million to $808 million. The property had been relaunched for sale in February this year with a reserve price of $918 million.

The required 80% consensus was reached on Nov 22, with Swee Shou Fern, head of investment advisory at Edmund Tie, brokering the sale.

The sale price of S$810 million works out to $1,178 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) ) after factoring in land betterment charges for intensification of land use and lease upgrading premium for a fresh 99-year lease.

This latest collective sale attempt is Thomson View's fifth. The last four collective sale attempts were made over the past 17 years. "The realignment of the reserve price hits a sweet spot between pricing and the complexities of redeveloping a site of this scale – reigniting developers’ interest, ultimately culminating in this milestone achievement," says Swee.

Owners of the 255 units stand to receive gross sale proceeds of about $2.22 million to $4.94 million, depending on their unit size and the sole commercial

In a joint statement, UOL and CapitaLand said they will redevelop the 5-ha site into a landmark 1,240-unit private condo. The locational attributes of the site include its proximity to the Thomson MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, within 1km of Ai Tong School, and access to amenities, including the Thomson Plaza shopping mall.

The en bloc purchase of Thomson View marks the largest residential en bloc deal since Kingsford Group’s acquisition of Chuan Park for $890 million in July 2022.

However, in terms of absolute price, Thomson View’s en bloc deal ranks as the second-largest in 2024, following Hotel Properties Ltd’s acquisition of Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall for $821 million on Nov 7.