More uncertainty looms over Hotel Property’s (HPL) $500 million purchase of Horizon Towers. The minority owners of the condominium applied to the High Court last week for leave to apply for judicial review of the Strata Titles Board’s (STB) decision to have the hearing this month.
The two blocks at Leonie Hill have been pledged to be sold enbloc for $500 million to HPL, Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Qatar Investment Authority, the investment arm of the Gulf Arab state of Qatar.
The deal was backed by 84 per cent of the owners - above the 80 per cent requirement - but it still needs approval from the STB. The STB had scheduled the hearing for September but rescheduled it for five days starting on July27.
The timing of the STB hearing is crucial as the $500 million deal must be sealed by Aug11, six months after the signing of the agreement on Feb12 . If the deadline is missed, the deal could fall through as the sellers may refuse to extend the deadline.
The application by the minority owners for leave to apply for judicial review was scheduled to be heard on Thursday. However, it is now uncertain when their application will be heard. A check with the Supreme Court website yesterday shows that their hearing has been struck off the list of originating summonses and summonses to be heard on Thursday before Justice Lee Seiu Kin.
To get leave to apply for judicial review, the minority owners will need to satisfy the court that they have an arguable case for review. Their primary complaint is believed to be that they do not have sufficient time to prepare their case given the earlier hearing dates.
The minority owners are represented by Kannan Ramesh and Karam Parmar from Tan Kok Quan Partnership and Philip Fong from Harry Elias Partnership.
Source : Business Times - 17 Jul 2007
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