FINLAND GARDENS

Published January 21, 2008

Sing unit seeks to join appeal over en bloc ruling
By LYNETTE KHOO

'SING Holdings said its joint venture vehicle is filing an intervention application with the High Court to be added as a party to the appeal made by majority owners of Finland Gardens in Siglap against the ruling that dismissed their en bloc transaction.Finland Gardens Pte Ltd

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(FGPL) is the 70-30 joint venture between Sing Holdings and Eastern Summer - the wholly-owned unit of US-based fund Forum Asian Realty Income II LP.The Strata Titles Board (STB) threw out the collective sale application of Finland Gardens in Siglap last November after it failed to meet statutory requirements.The STB ruled that there was no 80 per cent majority and that the sale price was not obtained in good faith. At the request of FGPL, the majority owners filed an appeal with the High Court in December against STB's decision.FGPL subsequently filed an intervention on Jan 17 with the High Court to be allowed as a party to the appeal.'

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The High Court has adjourned the hearing of the appeal and the intervention application to Feb 15 when the intervention application will be heard and further directions given for the hearing of the appeal,' Sing Holdings said.

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Finland Gardens, located in the Siglap area at East Coast Avenue and East Coast Terrace, has a land area of 98,309 sq ft. It comprises 48 units of walk-up apartments housed in two three-storey blocks.Sing Holdings proposed to buy the freehold site in November 2006 for $49.5 million. The owners of each unit would stand to reap about $1 million to $1.27 million, depending on the size of the unit.

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But owners of eight units objected to the sale, saying that they are not getting the best possible price for the estate and that a higher offer that came after Sing Holdings' offer was not considered by the sale committee, which simply asked Sing Holdings to match the later offer instead of asking for a better price."

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Finland Gardens' High Court appeal will be heard on the 21 April. Lawyer for the majority (applicants) will be Michael Huang SC. Dennis Tan for the minority (defendants).

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Update: 21 April 2008

No appeal has been scheduled