Milestone year for Tebrau Teguh

ROSY FUTURE: Company set to be roped in for major projects in Johor, in addition to those already in progress

TEBRAU Teguh Bhd's best kept secret is not that it has about 408ha of undeveloped land in the increasingly popular area of Iskandar, but the fact that its landbank is mostly underwater and near Pantai Senibong, which fronts Singapore's Sembawang district.

Throw property tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo into the mix and you have all the ingredients for a waterfront project to rival the likes of Danga Bay.

This time though, it will be in a different part of town, which is nearer to the township of Bandar Baru Permas Jaya. It is also now a stone's throw away from Johor Baru city with the newly completed Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL).

Lim comes as a welcome addition for Tebrau Teguh because despite its enviable landbank, developing the area will be nothing short of nightmare without the moolah to back it.

Tebrau Teguh, by virtue of having a state-owned company as one of its owners, has always taken a prudent view of its developments, focusing on its more "economical" land.

The fact is Tebrau Teguh has had the land for some time now. Nine years to be exact.

The land came to it through a corporate exercise that saw Tebrau Teguh buy into two companies held by Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor, the state government's investment arm. Tebrau Teguh was then known as Granite Industries Bhd.

At a price of RM546.9 million, Bayou Bay Development Sdn Bhd and Tebrau Bay Sdn Bhd brought with it exclusive rights to develop a 491ha area in the Plentong district.

The acquisition was completed in 2003 when KPRJ became a 42.45 per cent shareholder in Granite Industries. It later changed its name to Tebrau Teguh.

Nine years on, history could be repeating itself and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) could be injecting some of its assets into Tebrau Teguh, all in the name of consolidating its waterfront projects under one company.

Whether this is indeed the plan, we won't have long to find out.

The independent directors of Tebrau Teguh are not expected to seek an alternative to IWH's RM0.76 per share offer for the remainder of shares IWH does not already own in the company.

A press conference led by IWH is expected by next month the earliest.

Waterfront developments notwithstanding, 2012 marks a new stage in the development of Tebrau Teguh as a company.

This will be the year Tebrau Teguh ups the ante and break into the ever lucrative high-end high-rise market.

Its appointment as the developer of 165.2ha of land in Pengerang, Kota Tingggi, by the state government is set to gain it more future jobs.

It has won a RM153.98 million job as the main contractor for site clearance and earthworks for the relocation of villagers in the Pengerang area and this is likely to be followed with more jobs.

Tebrau Teguh is also expected to be roped in to develop a township in the same area to support the needs of the workers of the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) project in Pengerang.