TCC Land outlines two-year, Bt10-bn spending spree
Beverage tycoon Charoen Siriwadhanabhakdi's property arm, TCC Land Co Ltd, plans to invest up to Bt10 billion before the end of next year to renovate and construct 12 hotels, two office buildings and four retail premises, in an aggressive move to expand its business.
"We have to improve existing projects before developing new ones, and we believe that our business strategy should continue to focus on property development," said the company's vice executive chairman Chaiyut Pilun-Owad. He added that TCC Land planned to list on the stock exchange and raise money from public investments within three to five years.Meanwhile, half of the company's current investment budget will come from cash flow and the other half from bank loans, although its debt-to-equity ratio will be maintained at one-to-one. Charoen's family is reportedly earning about Bt20 billion from the sale of its shares in Thai Beverage Plc, which last week launched an initial public offering in Singapore and will start trading today. TCC Land operates in three businesses - hotels, office buildings and retail premises. The company operates 10 hotels in the Imperial group in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kho Samui, Mae Hong Son and Cambodia. The next one is the luxury Plaza Athenee Hotel on Wireless road, to be managed by the Meridian chain. The company owns The Empire Tower office building on Sathorn road that is now 90-per-cent occupied as well as the well-known Panthip Plaza in Prathunam. Chaiyut said the company would spend Bt1 billion to renovate 10 hotels in the Imperial Group to four-star or five-star level and is negotiating with an international hotel chain to take over their management after renovation is complete in about one year. Also, TCC Land will spend Bt6 billion to construct two new office buildings. The first will be located near the Plaza Athenee and will be called "Athenee Tower". Construc-tion is expected to be complete in a year at a cost of Bt2 billion. The second project is located near the Culture Ministry on Ratchadaphisek road. It will also be completed in about a year at a cost of Bt4 billion. The remaining Bt3 billion will be spent on renovating or constructing four retail businesses. The renovations will involve three former branches of the Banglampoo department store, which were taken over by TCC Land last year, and the company will build a new shopping centre at Bang Kapi, to be called "Tawanna Market Place". Chaiyut said the three former Banglampoo branches would become IT Centres with the name Pantip IT Centre. The new "Tawanna Market Place" shopping centre will be built on 4.3 hectares of land near Tesco Lotus Bang Kapi. It is scheduled to open within a year. By the end of 2007, TCC Land's total assets will increase from Bt30 billion to Bt45 billion, generating income growth of up to 15 per cent per year. TCC Land recorded sales of Bt5 billion last year and its expected 15 per cent revenue growth this year will follow an increase in the company's rental fees of between 5 per cent and 15 per cent, Chaiyut said. He said TCC Land would focus on properties that generates income from rental fees, whereas its subsidiary TCC Capital Land Co Ltd, a joint venture with Singapore-based CapitaLand, will focus on developing condominium and detached home projects. TCC Land has a land bank of up to 160 hectares around Bangkok and upcountry for its development projects over the next five years. Somluck Srimalee The Nation
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