BY GURMEET KAUR

PETALING JAYA: A local property owner, Far Pavilion Sdn Bhd, is leading a group of international investors to acquire a piece of land in Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) or pieces of land within that vicinity as part of the group’s plan to establish an investor services hub in Kuala Lumpur, a document sighted by StarBiz revealed.

According to a source with knowledge of Far Pavilion’s plans, the company’s investor services hub will comprise angel investors, venture capitalists and mezzanine investors that intend to service the financial firms that are planning to be in TRX - the 70-acre development in the heart of the city, which is owned by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

StarBiz has identified Far Pavilion as the vehicle of businessman Datuk Seri Dr Shafiq Sit, a corporate figure who had served as head of corporate planning at Sime Darby Bhd during which he sat on several boards in the Sime Darby Group.

Shafiq declined to comment when contacted by StarBiz.

The document sighted showed that the company has written to 1MDB to express interest in buying a suitable parcel of land in the development and planned to engage the services of an internationally-renowned architect to design its investor services hub.

“Ideally it makes perfect sense to set up their base of operations in TRX itself or as near as possible to service the giant financial firms,” says the source. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added that the buyer was also driven by weaker ringgit.

“Also in every perceived economic downturn, there are golden opportunities and this is what the buyer is looking to do via its interest in TRX,” said the source.

The source dismissed the idea that Far Pavilion was merely a speculator and revealed that the company itself currently owns land assets in the vicinities of both TRX and Bandar Malaysia developments worth in excess of RM100mil.

He added that the prospective interest in TRX or the neighbouring area is strictly a commercial deal, driven by commercial considerations. It has been reported that five parcels of land within TRX have been transacted or earmarked for development.

These are to Australia’s Lend Lease Group (17 acres), Indonesia’s Mulia Group (3.4 acres), WCT Holdings Bhd (1.65 acres), Lembaga Tabung Haji (1.56 acres) and Affin Bank Berhad (1.25 acres).

It is unclear which parcel Far Pavilion has set its eyes on.