Financially troubled household appliances maker Taiwan Kolin Co (歌林) yesterday sold two of three properties through auction, including a commercial building in Taipei City and a factory in Taoyuan County, auction organizer Savills Taiwan Ltd (第一太平戴維斯) said in an e-mailed statement.
However, another factory, also located in Taoyuan County’s -Guanyin (觀音) Township, failed to attract bids, Savills Taiwan said.
Kolin’s commercial building, located on Chongqing S Road Sec 1 in downtown Taipei, was sold to the state-funded Taiwan Asset Management Co (台灣金聯資產管理) for NT$939.99 million (US$31.21 million), or NT$600,773 per ping (3.3m2), according to Savills Taiwan.
The auction price of the commercial building in Taipei, which has 1,826 ping in floor space, represented a premium of 14.48 percent over its floor price of NT$821 million, the auction organizer said.
Meanwhile, textile manufacturer Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀), bought one of Kolin’s Guanyin factories in Taoyuan County for NT$615 million at the auction, or at a cost of NT$56,504 per ping.
Savills Taiwan said the Guanyin factory has a land area of 10,884.26 ping and Far Eastern won the bid with a 5.13 percent premium over the floor price of NT$584.9 million.
Kolin has been looking at ways to divest idle assets and operations to repay its debts after encountering financial difficulties in 2008. Apart from yesterday’s asset auction, the company is slated to auction off its “Kolin” brand and operations, with a starting price of NT$350 million (US$11.5 million) on Dec. 15.
“The client [Kolin] was satisfied with the results,” said Pin Chiu (邱奕平), a senior manager at Savills Taiwan, of the asset auction.
Achieving a premium of nearly 14.5 percent on a commercial building that has been vacant for many years, provided further evidence that the outlook for the commercial building market remains rosy, Chiu said in the statement.
“Market liquidity remains sufficient,” Chiu said, “In addition to major investors like life insurers, other potential investors are still interested in this market as long as good investment targets emerge.”
Kolin’s other Guanyin factory, which has a land area of 10,884.26 ping and a floor price of NT$1.17 billion, did not attract any bids yesterday. The factory’s bigger land size and higher floor price could have discouraged investors, manufacturers in particular, from joining the auction, Chiu said.
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