Banyan Tree Holdings

[freedom]

The political instability is a killer to Banyan Tree.

[greengiraffe]

Banyan Tree branching out into serviced apartments
THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 06, 2014 12:00AM

Lisa Allen

Property & Tourism Reporter
Sydney
LUXURY Singapore hotelier Banyan Tree has branched out from five-star opulence to serviced apartments, announcing yesterday a new low-cost brand designed for properties it plans to build on the Gold Coast, in Brisbane and parts of Asia.

Banyan Tree’s new serviced apartment brand, Cassia, will offer one and two-bedroom units and will compete with existing serviced apartment brands in Australia such as Quest, Meriton and Oaks.

Banyan Tree founder and executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping spent this week in Brisbane hunting for sites to build a serviced apartment complex, confirming yesterday that he would bid for up to three sites.

But Banyan Tree’s plans are more advanced on the Gold Coast, with the group recently buying a site on The Esplanade for a $US100 million ($107.7m) serviced apartment tower of up to 200 rooms. Depending on planning approvals, Banyan Tree might also build a couple of penthouses atop the tower that it will also sell off.

“We are looking at Brisbane because we can’t find anything in Sydney and Melbourne. We seem to be a little bit late in the game,” Mr Ho told The Australian yesterday.

“Since we are already committed to the Gold Coast it would make sense from an overall ­project point of view to have one in Brisbane and one on the Gold Coast — there would be synergies. We think the serviced apartment space is seriously underwhelming right now and seriously under-serviced, bland and boring.”

Mr Ho plans to sell the serviced apartments to investors, saying this business model is appropriate for the high operating costs in Australia.

“The serviced apartment sector has not to date seen the kinds of innovation in design and services that even the low-cost pure hotel space has seen,” he said.

The serviced apartments Banyan Tree is planning on the Gold Coast will be aimed at the leisure traveller. Whether the Brisbane development would be aimed at business or leisure travellers depended on which site the company bought, Mr Ho said.

Five Cassia projects are already in development in Phuket, Thailand; Bintan, Indonesia; Beruwala, Sri Lanka; Lijiang, China and Australia’s Gold Coast. Interest has been strong, with 70 per cent of Phuket and 45 per cent of Bintan being sold in phase one.

Banyan Tree is not the first major hotelier to branch into lower-cost accommodation. US hotel giant Starwood launched its Aloft Hotels brand in 2008 and will open its 60th hotel in North America this year.

Quest, Oaks and Meriton presently dominate the serviced apartment sector, which has undergone rapid growth — particularly among corporate travellers in the past few years because it is a cheaper alternative to hotel stays.

[greengiraffe]

Banyan Tree picks new design in Brisbane resort development
THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 01, 2015 12:00AM

Rosanne Barrett

Reporter
Brisbane
Luxury resort and accommodation provider Banyan Tree has upgraded its Brisbane plans and scaled back the number of units in its Australian-first development.

Facing action in the Planning and Environment Court, the Singaporean company quietly scrapped its existing plans for 98 apartments on a prominent Kangaroo Point site overlooking Brisbane City and will proceed for a planned 76 units under a new design.

Banyan Tree has yet to ­disclose the value of its future ­development on the $15 million site that it purchased last year from the state government but it will include three penthouses with pools, units and a retail ­podium level.

It follows the resort operator’s purchase of four adjoining properties on the Surfers Paradise waterfront totalling 4400sq m following negotiations with more than 60 unit owners. It is understood the developer is looking into creating two buildings on the site.

Architecture firm Woods Bagot has been engaged to design the Brisbane building, responding with a curved glass triangular structure intended as “more like a sculpture and less like a building”.

There are three four-bedroom rooftop penthouses, 28 three-bedroom apartments and 45 two-bedroom units in the ­current design before council.

“The geometry of curves has been used as the principle organising strategy and respond to the overwhelming influences of both the river form and the associated cliff topography,” the ­design documents said.

“The combination of concave and convex surfaces creates a ­dynamic and distinct design response.”

The apartments will range from 98sq m to 124 sq m for two bedrooms to the 320sq m penthouse and will be aimed at the owner-occupier market.

In a new quarterly report Place Advisory found an ­increase in the average price of apartments to $606,469, but ­volumes have fallen.

Director Lachlan Walker said the results reflected sustained confidence in the apartment market.

“These results were built on the strength of the previous ­record-breaking December quarter and show the Brisbane market continues to capitalise on affordability and high yields,” Mr Walker said.

There were 1225 unconditional sales in the first three months of the year, worth $742.9m.

There were 2455 apartments for sale at the end of March.

[opmi]

If you look at Banyan Tree results, the company is better at 'marketing' than executing.

[cfa]

I remember one analyst did hi-lite investors must take note of one fine print , in IPO prospectus that 5 years after IPO , ho is entitled to a remuneration of S$12 millions . That analyst even blame the management or underwriter didn't hi-lite this to potential investor, but classified it under fine print . Hope my memory does not fail me .

[edragon]

This one:-

Founder’s Grant
The independent shareholders of our Company have, prior to the Offering, approved the incentive described
below for our Executive Chairman, Mr Ho KwonPing, which has been included in Mr Ho KwonPing’s
employment agreement. This incentive is to secure the continuing commitment of Mr Ho KwonPing to our Group
and to reward him for founding, leading and building up our Group. The incentive is effective only on 1 January
of the year after the third anniversary of the Listing Date (the ‘‘Commencement Date’’). For a description of the
method in which the Founder’s Grant is accounted for in our financial statements and the financial effect of the
Founder’s Grant, see ‘‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations — Significant Accounting Policies — Equity-settled Transactions’’ and ‘‘Management’s Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Significant Factors Affecting Our Results of
Operations — Equity-based Grant and Schemes’’.

With effect from the Commencement Date, Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to, for each financial year for
a period of ten years beginning from the financial year ended 31 December in which the Commencement Date
falls (each a ‘‘Relevant Financial Year’’), an amount equivalent to 5.0 per cent of the profit before tax of our
Group for the Relevant Financial Year (the ‘‘PBT Grant’’), such amount to be payable in cash or in Shares at the
sole discretion of our Company.
In the event that our Company elects to pay the PBT Grant in Shares, our Company will issue new Shares to
Mr Ho KwonPing, based on the price equivalent to the arithmetic average of the daily volume weighted average
price of our Shares listed on the SGX-ST during the period of 30 trading days of the SGX-ST ending on the day
before the PBT Grant. The aggregate number of new Shares issued to Mr Ho KwonPing in a Relevant Financial
Year pursuant to the Founder’s Grant will be disclosed in our Annual Report in respect of that Relevant Financial
Year.
Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to the Founder’s Grant as set out above as long as he serves in an
executive capacity with us.

[cfa]

Avoid this company , there are many other good companies to invest in.

[specuvestor]

This one:-

Founder’s Grant
The independent shareholders of our Company have, prior to the Offering, approved the incentive described
below for our Executive Chairman, Mr Ho KwonPing, which has been included in Mr Ho KwonPing’s
employment agreement. This incentive is to secure the continuing commitment of Mr Ho KwonPing to our Group
and to reward him for founding, leading and building up our Group. The incentive is effective only on 1 January
of the year after the third anniversary of the Listing Date (the ‘‘Commencement Date’’). For a description of the
method in which the Founder’s Grant is accounted for in our financial statements and the financial effect of the
Founder’s Grant, see ‘‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations — Significant Accounting Policies — Equity-settled Transactions’’ and ‘‘Management’s Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Significant Factors Affecting Our Results of
Operations — Equity-based Grant and Schemes’’.

With effect from the Commencement Date, Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to, for each financial year for
a period of ten years beginning from the financial year ended 31 December in which the Commencement Date
falls (each a ‘‘Relevant Financial Year’’), an amount equivalent to 5.0 per cent of the profit before tax of our
Group for the Relevant Financial Year (the ‘‘PBT Grant’’), such amount to be payable in cash or in Shares at the
sole discretion of our Company.
In the event that our Company elects to pay the PBT Grant in Shares, our Company will issue new Shares to
Mr Ho KwonPing, based on the price equivalent to the arithmetic average of the daily volume weighted average
price of our Shares listed on the SGX-ST during the period of 30 trading days of the SGX-ST ending on the day
before the PBT Grant. The aggregate number of new Shares issued to Mr Ho KwonPing in a Relevant Financial
Year pursuant to the Founder’s Grant will be disclosed in our Annual Report in respect of that Relevant Financial
Year.
Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to the Founder’s Grant as set out above as long as he serves in an
executive capacity with us.

Interesting how a leftist becomes "some are more equal than others" by taking the first cut of the bacon.

Wonder how he reconciles that at night.

[john]

Tks for alerting readers to this founder's Grant; was monitoring this counter to buy wout knowing this. To be fair, such unusual Chairman priviledge needs to be prominently conveyed to buyers of this counter.

This one:-

Founder’s Grant
The independent shareholders of our Company have, prior to the Offering, approved the incentive described
below for our Executive Chairman, Mr Ho KwonPing, which has been included in Mr Ho KwonPing’s
employment agreement. This incentive is to secure the continuing commitment of Mr Ho KwonPing to our Group
and to reward him for founding, leading and building up our Group. The incentive is effective only on 1 January
of the year after the third anniversary of the Listing Date (the ‘‘Commencement Date’’). For a description of the
method in which the Founder’s Grant is accounted for in our financial statements and the financial effect of the
Founder’s Grant, see ‘‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations — Significant Accounting Policies — Equity-settled Transactions’’ and ‘‘Management’s Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Significant Factors Affecting Our Results of
Operations — Equity-based Grant and Schemes’’.

With effect from the Commencement Date, Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to, for each financial year for
a period of ten years beginning from the financial year ended 31 December in which the Commencement Date
falls (each a ‘‘Relevant Financial Year’’), an amount equivalent to 5.0 per cent of the profit before tax of our
Group for the Relevant Financial Year (the ‘‘PBT Grant’’), such amount to be payable in cash or in Shares at the
sole discretion of our Company.
In the event that our Company elects to pay the PBT Grant in Shares, our Company will issue new Shares to
Mr Ho KwonPing, based on the price equivalent to the arithmetic average of the daily volume weighted average
price of our Shares listed on the SGX-ST during the period of 30 trading days of the SGX-ST ending on the day
before the PBT Grant. The aggregate number of new Shares issued to Mr Ho KwonPing in a Relevant Financial
Year pursuant to the Founder’s Grant will be disclosed in our Annual Report in respect of that Relevant Financial
Year.
Mr Ho KwonPing shall be entitled to the Founder’s Grant as set out above as long as he serves in an
executive capacity with us.

Interesting how a leftist becomes "some are more equal than others" by taking the first cut of the bacon.

Wonder how he reconciles that at night.

[CityFarmer]

It should be OK for special "privileges" of founder, as long as full transparency, IMO.

Sheng Siong has similar term. Alibaba has special term too, to allow absolute control of core team.

(not vested)