Singapore’s LHN Teams Up With Oxley Boss for Third Time to Buy Redevelopment Project

Singapore’s LHN Group has inked a second joint venture with the family behind listed builder Oxley Holdings to buy a property in the Lion City’s Geylang area for S$30 million ($22.4 million) for redevelopment as a commercial project.

The partners have secured the option to acquire the ageing residential building at 30 and 32 Lorong 22 Geylang Road after paying a 10 percent deposit on 14 February, according to a filing with the Singapore Exchange. Plans call for tearing down the building and redeveloping the 1,179 square metre (12,691 square foot) site into a strata-titled commercial property with units for sale on the open market, with any unsold units to be leased for commercial use.

The joint venture reunites LHN with Macritchie Developments, a private firm owned by Oxley chairman and CEO Ching Chiat Kwong and son Shawn Ching, while also bringing on board an investment vehicle controlled by a lawyer named Darren Low and a doctor identified as Tan Hui Kang.

The JV marks a third collaboration between LHN and the Chings after Macritchie last April acquired a stake in a District 6 rental residential project from LHN’s Coliwoo co-living division, following an LHN-Macritchie tie-up that same month to acquire and renovate a building in Singapore’s museum district.

Freehold Find

The redevelopment site on Geylang Road is a freehold plot located 10 minutes by foot from Aljunied MRT station and 10 minutes by car from downtown Singapore, according to marketing agent Savills.

The latest LHN-Macritchie joint venture “has been granted the option to purchase for the property, which has yet to be exercised”, LHN said in the filing. The site’s seller, Ferlingo Pte Ltd, is an unrelated third party.

The new JV is 58 percent owned by Jadeite Properties, a 50:50 vehicle of LHN and Macritchie, the latter firm being 90 percent held by the elder Ching and 10 percent by the son. The JV’s remaining 42 percent is owned by DH Assets & Enterprises Pte Ltd, equally held by Low and Tan. LHN and Macritchie will contribute a maximum S$14.5 million each to the JV.

The formation of the JV is a connected-party transaction due to Macritchie’s 20 percent shareholding in Coliwoo, which ranks as the largest Singapore-based co-living operator with nearly 3,000 keys.

Macritichie’s investment last year in the GSM Building in District 6 came two months after Singapore’s High Court cleared Coliwoo to buy the property, following through on an S$80 million collective sale signed in February 2023 — a transaction that had been contested by unhappy elements on the seller side.

The S$48 million JV to revamp the Peranakan Museum at 50 Armenian Street, known as Wilmer Place, has remained short on specifics, with LHN chairman Kelvin Lim saying only that the heritage property would “bring a new dimension to our Coliwoo co-living collection”.

Co-Living Drives Revenue

LHN, which is dual-listed in Singapore and Hong Kong, posted an attributable net profit of S$47.3 million for the 12 months to the end of September, up 23.8 percent, on revenue of S$121 million, up 29.2 percent.

The group said co-living revenue in Singapore rose 85.5 percent to S$52.4 million, driven by high occupancy rates and Coliwoo’s expansion to meet market demand.

LHN as of September had 2,541 keys in Singapore, either through management contracts or ownership/JVs, and 354 keys for overseas projects under the 85 Soho brand.