UPDATE Radical Turtle Cove, Plantation and Pornsawan Rehab Plan
In discussions with the SEPCO Asia Group PLC who are restructuring Lersuang's Tamarind Hills, thephuketinsider has learned of plans to expand rehab plans to Turtle Cove, Plantation Kamala Phase 2, and the Pornsawan Grand Tower in Phuket Town. SEPCO has formed a new company Radical PLC. The company is planning to enter the SET (Stock Exchange of Thailand) over the next few years.
Mai Khao's Turtle Cove is another of Lersuang's condominium projects which has been stalled, partially completed and then stopped for a number of years stranding purchasers and seeing the land on which reportedly lays mortgaged to outside interests when the company become insolvent.
Kamala's Plantation project in which the initial phase was completed and handed over has a second phase on 34 rai which was planned to have condominiums and villas which had some site and villa construction prior to running into cash flow problems, and ended up in tight credit issues with a financial institution. Work has been stopped for an extended period of time, while the area surrounding it has developed into some of the island's most expensive real estate.
Phuket Town's Pornsawan Grand Tower Project consists of 72 condos in a ten story tower with shopping and commercial space on the lower levels. Radical PLC will only pursue part of the redevelopment of condos and some commercial space.
Radical has tapped into financing sources with the Government Savings Bank (GSB), MFC Asset Management PLC (whose major shareholders are Thai Military Bank (TMB), Government Savings Bank, and the Thai Ministry of Finance. It will also be sourcing private equity for the Pornsawan project.
There remains no news for purchasers at the Lersuang Groups failed Infinity Heights and Lersuang Village projects. We have received a number of buyer comments and emails from mothballed developments including Purnavarna, Stoney Monday, Baan Talay in Layan and the two other Lersuang Projects but these appear to all be on hold at the moment.
Clearly we are now seeing a tipping point over the past few months where Thai investment banks and lenders are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for Phuket's residential market and are looking at placements mostly back of local firms or established businessmen with previous track records. It's a significant shift in what had been an industry which at the resort grade real estate level had been dominated by foreigners is now seeing take up by Thai's who have access to local debt and equity.