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Published on August 14, 2007

Siam Nuwat, a recently formed property arm of the Aksara Group, is planning to spend Bt1 billion this year to buy land in Bangkok's central business district, possibly near Sukhumvit Road or Phetchaburi Road, to develop two condominium projects next year.

The move is part of a plan to expand the group's property businesses away from low-rise residential projects like detached and town houses to high-rise residential projects, said group general manager Tarathorn Aksaranuwat.

The Aksara Group is a conglomerate that began as a distributor of electronic equipment in 1975. It now has four business units with total annual sales of Bt10 billion.

The first unit is Aksara Global, a producer and distributor of electronic equipment, the second is Tomco Engineering, a distributor of compressors and hydroelectric systems from Japan, and the third is a producer and distributor of Vzio-brand computers.

The group's fourth business unit is its property business, and it has three companies: Aksara Property, which builds low-rise residential projects and currently has three projects worth a total of Bt2 billion; Aksara Holding, a broker for buying and selling undeveloped land; and Siam Nuwat, which will focus on high-rise residential projects.

Of the group's total revenues, 30 per cent comes from its property businesses, 30 per cent from its computer unit and the rest from the other business units.

The group owns up to 320 hectares of undeveloped land in greater Bangkok - enough to develop both low-rise and high-rise residential projects for the next five years.

Tarathorn said the group established Siam Nuwat last year with registered capital of Bt5 million to develop city condominiums. The first project, launched at Thailand Condo Expo 2007 last week, is called Wish@Siam. It is located on Phetchaburi Road, close to the Asia Hotel. The company has spent Bt260 million to buy land and develop the project, which it expects to generate sales of Bt650 million once it is complete in the second half of 2009. Thirty-three per cent of total investment in Wish@Siam came from the company's capital, and the rest was borrowed from Siam Commercial Bank.

Tarathorn said that after launching Wish@Siam, Siam Nuwat would increase its registered capital in this year's third quarter from Bt5 million to Bt20 million in preparation for expanding its investments next year.

"We plan to launch two condominium projects next year after we buy new land this year, so we must increase our registered capital to match our expansion plans," he said.

Twenty per cent of the Wish@Siam project, which is worth Bt650 million, is already booked, giving the company reason to believe the project will sell out by the end of the year.

Wish@Siam will officially open for bookings on September 1-2 at the project site on Phetchaburi Road. The units are priced from Bt1.5 million to Bt3.98 million.

Siam Nuwat expects sales from Wish@Siam to return Bt300 million next year, Tarathorn said.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation