SET-listed developer to build major mall in Pattaya

Land and Houses Plc (LH), one of the small number of leading property developers in Thailand to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), recently announced plans to spend around 20 billion baht over the next six years expanding its various operations.

Among its key new projects during that time frame will be the construction of a Terminal 21 shopping centre in Pattaya, at a projected cost of around seven billion baht, although the company has yet to announce a specific construction start date for the mall.

Land and Houses Plc will also be looking to spend seven billion baht building a Terminal 21 shopping centre in Phuket and another in Nakhon Ratchasima. The latter has been earmarked for a 2016 construction start date, which may well mean the Pattaya project will not begin until the year after, or even later.

Notably, the first Terminal 21 shopping centre, which LH constructed on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, cost just three billion baht to build.

LH believes the potential for retail businesses in the country regions, especially in the northeast are great, although management have said they will wait to see what the economic picture looks like into 2016 before making any firm commitments.

LH also has investments in hotels and property in Britain, and intends to focus much of its early attention from now until the early part of next year on those investments.

The company has invested around five billion baht into rental properties in the United States and has announced plans to add a further 15 billion baht into the US market over the next few years.

The plan is to invest as much in 2016 as they have in 2015, maintaining what they believe to be a relatively conservative expansion program due to the overall global as well as local economic climate.

The LH chairman, Anant Asavabhokin, has been quoted as saying he believes the property market has bottomed out and is on track for a rebound. He said the property sector had been impacted by weak domestic consumption and many potential homebuyers faced problems obtaining bank loans for purchases.

Now, with the government engaging in a variety of stimulus packages, especially for low-income workers and small businesses, the financial aspects of the economy should ease and help boost the overall position.

LH plans to launch a real estate investment trust (REIT) in 2016, using its shopping malls and hotel projects as its key assets, in a bid to attract fresh funds which it will then employ for its expanding business.