UEM Sunrise shares jump 15.4% to close at highest in two years

• The counter closed up 15.38% or six sen to 45 sen — the highest since its 45.5 sen closing price on April 6, 2021 — with a market capitalisation of RM2.28 billion.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 20): It appears that property developer UEM Sunrise Bhd has piqued investors' interest, as its share price reached a two-year high amid active trades on Bursa Malaysia on Thursday (July 20).

The counter closed up 15.38% or six sen to 45 sen — the highest since its 45.5 sen closing price on April 6, 2021 — with a market capitalisation of RM2.28 billion.

It saw 113.91 million shares change hands, surpassing its 200-day average volume of 11.29 million shares, and over 60 times the 1.86 million shares that were transacted on the previous trading day on Tuesday.

The stock has jumped 76.47% year to date and gained 52.94% over the past 12 months.

The company is planning to develop its first ‘Build-to-Rent’ (BTR) project in Melbourne, according to its Bursa filing last month (June 21), in partnership with Greystar Real Estate Partners.

Under the deal announced on June 21, UEM will sell a property in Melbourne, Australia, measuring 1.33 acres to GS Collingwood Property Trust I — an investment vehicle managed and controlled by a subsidiary of Greystar — for A$45.15 million or RM143.25 million. At the same time, UEM's unit is appointed to develop the property for the new owner into a BTR development for a total payment of A$232.18 million or RM731.48 million.

The proposed development is expected to include approximately 400 apartment units across two buildings, with a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments suitable for multi-generational living. At the time, UEM said planning documents were expected to be submitted this month, and subject to approvals received, construction is anticipated to commence in mid to late 2024 and take about three years to complete.

In a separate filling on June 20, UEM also announced the appointment of Khazanah Nasional Bhd's executive director of investments Datuk Hisham Hamdan as its new chairman and Khazanah's senior vice-president of investments Reagan Chan Chung Cheng as director, effective July 1.

A day before that, the company announced that Tower A of its first transit-oriented development (TOD) named The Connaught One in Cheras had achieved a take-up rate of 85%.

Earlier in the same month, the group purchased a 3.7-hectare freehold land in Kelana Jaya adjacent to the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for RM155 million.