Listed property developer Malton Bhd today denied being in talks with China's Dalian Wanda Group and the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) to bid for the Bandar Malaysia project.
"The company, after due enquiry with its directors and major shareholders, wishes to inform that it is not in any discussion with the parties mentioned in the bidding for the Bandar Malaysia project as reported," Malton said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
It was referring to a StarBiz article on speculation that the Chinese firm, founded by the country's richest man Wang Jianlin, is bidding for the project with Malton and EPF.
Malton is headed by Desmond Lim, who is reportedly close to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's family.
Prior to this, Malton had been associated with the Bandar Malaysia project, with the partner speculated to be sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, but this did not materialise.
The project will be put out to tender again after the collapse of a RM7 billion deal with the China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) consortium.
The Finance Ministry's TRX City Sdn Bhd, which owns the project, said the consortium did not meet payment obligations, but the consortium refuted this.
The project was initially to be developed by 1MDB.
Analysts believe China held back on Bandar Malaysia due to stiffening competition with Japan for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail project.
China had initially envisioned the rail project as part of a regional rail network, in its One Belt One Road policy.
Kenanga Investment Bank estimates Bandar Malaysia's total market value to be RM42 million, at RM2,000 per square feet. - Mkini
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