Pearls Global - the Pearls group of companies operating in India since 1953 and Australian since 2009

Pearls Global’s Australian arm, Pearls Australasia has announced a $20 million makeover for that nation’s most iconic beachfront resort.
Pearls Global bought the Sheraton in late 2009 as its first major transaction in Australia.
All facets of the property will be renewed by mid 2012, to restore the Sheraton Mirage to its former glory.
The Premier of Queensland welcomed the works saying “…Premier Bligh says Queensland should work hard to get its ‘mojo’ back. I see that (happening) here, at the Mirage, an iconic destination. I welcome this investment.”
The Sheraton Renewal is part of an ever-growing portfolio of projects for Pearls Global in Australia that also includes:
• a joint venture with David Devine’s Metro Property Development to develop 1000 apartments in Brisbane and 1000 land lots on the northern outskirts of Melbourne; i
• the development of the $75 million Edgewater residences and apartments at Varsity Lakes;
• and the expansion of Pearls Global’s patented MiiHome building system to meet local and international demand for affordable, social, crisis and remote area housing, and, workers accommodation requirements arising from Australia’s mining boom.

 

A joint venture between Nirmal Singh Bhangoo’s Pearls Global and Metro Property to build over $100 million worth of apartments in Brisbane has been given approval. The new project, Brooklyn on Brookes, will consist of 191 apartments in Fortitude Valley.

 

The project comes at a tricky time for developers. Last quarter 560 new units were marketed in Brisbane while unit prices have been dropping by 3.9 per cent in the 12 months to June. Metro’s founder David Devine is betting against that market. “On the surface, the fundamentals look like they are wrong, but as far as we’re concerned, we have been in the business for 30 years and we know our product.”

 

There are some positive prospects for the joint venture. Brisbane-based Suncorp Bank recently recorded a 20 per cent increase in home loan applications stimulated by the Bligh government’s $10,000 “Building Boost” grant which came into effect on Monday. The joint venture will ride this stimulus and build upon its success with earlier developments such as the Chelsea in Bowen Hills, which is sold out, and the 286-apartment Madison Heights project, which has achieved 170 sales in just three months. And while there is plenty of competition in the market, the joint venture has an advantage over other developers who find financing difficult to come by. This advantage is Pearls.

 

Pearls Global is an Indian conglomerate with more than 1.6 million employees and is one of the largest private landholders in India. It is backed by billionaire chairman Nirmal Singh Bhangoo. “Ask me in 12 months  time how many of our other competitors have started,” Mr Devine said. Mr Singh Bhangoo shares Mr Devine’s confidence. “Our projects with Metro have sold very well to date and with over $100 billion being invested in Queensland mining infrastructure, we forecast that confidence in property investment will continue to rebound,” Mr Singh Bhangoo said.

 

He said the company enjoyed working with what he described as “one of Australia’s most experienced and successful property developers”. “Metro is a model partner with which to expand our development interests in Queensland and nationally,” he said. Brooklyn on Brookes will be a 14 level apartment building with one and two-bedroom apartments. Prices are expected to start from $305,000. The development will include retail space, a pool, gymnasium, roof-top entertaining area and gardens as well as under- ground car parking.

 

So far Metro Property has been buying residential development sites with 50 per cent debt to equity. Construction costs are about 80 per cent debt to equity and most developments are being built by local group Northbuild. Mr Devine said pre-sales will cover 110 per cent of the debt used to create Brooklyn on Brookes. “We are certainly confident, but we are not stupid,” he said. “As the market is at the moment we will do 600 apartments in a year.”

 

Metro director Ken Woodley said there was an emphasis on get- ting the balance right between style and affordability. “The success of our other projects has given us confidence to continue.” The complex will be located at 116-128 Brookes Street, Fortitude Valley, and has an estimated end value of $102 million. For more information visit Nirmal Singh Bhangoo.

The Courier Mail has recently featured an article on Brooklyn On Brookes – a stunning new 191-unit apartment development in Fortitude Valley. To read the story click here:  Courier Mail Article

 

Or for more information visit Nirmal Singh Bhangoo

David Devine’s apartment development business Metro Property Development and joint venture partner Pearls Australasia have received development approval for a stunning new 191-unit apartment development in Fortitude Valley. The new project will significantly boost stock in Brisbane’s inner city suburbs and provide a stylish and affordable option for owner occupiers and investors.

 

The development partners will seek to replicate the success of their recent projects; The Chelsea Bowen Hills which is sold out and the 286-apartment Madison Heights project which has achieved 170 sales in just three months.The complex will be located at 116-128 Brookes Street next to Gregory Hall, Fortitude Valley, and has an estimated end value of $102 million.

 

The 14-level apartment building will feature 191 one and two bedroom apartments and will include retail space, a pool, gymnasium, reading room and a roof-top entertaining area with a garden. There will also be underground car parking and bicycle parking.  Apartments are expected to start from $305,000.

 

Executive Chairman David Devine said he expected strong demand for the apartments because of the location, high quality of the development and its affordability. “With its close proximity to the Brisbane CBD and Fortitude Valley’s vibrant shopping, restaurant and entertainment precinct, Fortitude Valley is extremely attractive to individuals and couples looking for an exciting inner-city lifestyle,” Mr Devine said. “Our Brookes Street apartment development will deliver that lifestyle at a price which represents excellent value in today’s competitive property market.”

 

Metro Director Ken Woodley said Brookes Street would offer cutting-edge design and sophisticated interiors. “This project will be a benchmark for stylish and affordable living in one of Brisbane’s most dynamic suburbs,” he said. “Our success at The Chelsea and Madison Heights is evidence of our ability to develop product which exceeds buyers’ expectations of value in the current market and we will stick to this tried and tested recipe for this latest project.” All three projects encapsulate New York style and the SOHO effect where spaces prioritise low-maintenance living and luxurious interiors including stone benchtops and contemporary European appliances that combine practicality with style.

 

The Brookes Street apartment tower is the third Brisbane joint venture with Pearls Australasia, following on the Chelsea and Madison Heights apartment projects. Pearls and Metro are also combining to deliver two land subdivisions north of Melbourne.

 

Pearls Australasia Joint Managing Director Paul Brinsmead said that the joint venture was secure in bringing another apartment project to the market. “Our projects with Metro have sold very well to date and with over $100 billion being invested in Queensland mining infrastructure, we forecast that confidence in property investment will continue to rebound,” he said.

 

Metro Property Development was created in early 2010 by Devine Limited founder David Devine and business partner Ken Woodley and recently merged with Luke Hartman’s Hartman Corporation. The company currently has a portfolio of projects concentrating on quality, affordable residential high rise projects and broad acre land development in Queensland and Victoria.

 

Pearls Australasia entered the Australian market in 2009 with the cash purchase of the Sheraton Mirage Resort and Spa on the Gold Coast. In addition to the Metro joint venture, it is developing the $75 million Edgewater residences and apartments on Lake Orr at Varsity Lakes. It has also launched Pearls MiiHome, an internationally patented building system that is delivering remote area, indigenous, crisis and social housing to government in Australia and India, and workers accommodation to mining and infrastructure projects in Queensland.

 

Pearls Australasia is backed by India’s largest private land owner, Nirmal Singh Bhangoo and the diversified Pearls Global.

 

For more information visit www.metroprop.com.au or www.pearls-a.com

 

Metro Media enquiries to David Devine on 0407 221 144.

Pearls Media enquiries to Graham Staerk on 0423 027 973.

THE Indian group behind the revamp of the Sheraton Mirage has launched a $200 million housing estate near Melbourne. The selling point for this Pearls Australasia project is the land prices for Woodlands Edge start at just $l35,000.

 

Pearls Australasia joint marmging director Paul Brinsmead said Victoria’s strong economy was an attraction. Pearl’s projects also include the $75 million Edgewater housing plan fur Varsity Lakes.

PEARLS Global, the Indian company owned by Nirmal Singh Bhangoo that snared the Sheraton Mirage from receivers last year, has just splashed out another $10 million for a major development site at Varsity Lakes. This time, the subsidiary of development giant Pearls Global has decided to take on a stalled project originally proposed by Gold Coast developers Stephen Solomons and Duncan Mclnnes. The Solomons-Mclnnes company Regatta Lakeside had amalgamated the 2.55ha Varsity Parade site in 2007 at a cost of $11.08 million. While they have booked a $1 million loss on the property.

 

Pearls said it planned to retain the developers as project managers and marketers for its proposed development of 54 waterfront homes and 90 apartments.

 

A development application has been lodged with the city council and Pearls was expecting approval by September. Pearls plans to deliver the project, located at the western end of Lake Orr’s north bank, in two stages. Approval is expected by September. The latest purchase comes on the heels of Pearls announcing a $200 million residential subdivision in Melbourne last week. The project is to be undertaken with David Devine’s private company vehicle Metro Property Development and comes on top of two apartment projects also planned with Metro in Brisbane.

 

Although the end value of the Varsity Lakes development has not been disclosed, the Coast deal would push the value of Pearls’ Australian projects to more than $600 million. “Pearls is seeking the very best opportunities in the marketplace and we feel this Varsity Lakes venture fits the criteria very well,” Pearls Australasia executive director Gurpartap Singh said. “As with our successful joint venture with David Devine’s Metro Property group in Brisbane and Melbourne, we are looking to bring well-priced and well-built product to market, within the reach of today’s buyer.”

 

“The Gold Coast performs well at appropriate price points.” Carl Bruhn, Varsity Lakes project director for Delfin Lend Lease, said the Pearls investment was “an important final chapter” in the estate’s residential development. Meanwhile, Pearls Australasia is yet to reveal its plans for its other Coast investment, the Sheraton Mirage.

 

The company bought the beach-front property for $62.5 million from Raptis Group receivers more than a year ago and has hinted at either a refurbishment or redevelopment of the property.

Indian-backed Pearls Australasia is on the verge of a major deal with a multinational mining company to deliver prefabricated housing in the Surat Basin of southern Queensland and northern NSW.
The New Delhi-based group is targeting more than $1 billion in global sales of its prefabricated products called MiiHome and its management said it would dominate what is a very competitive domestic market. Three of the MiiHome products were recently given away to Ipswich flood victims by chairman Nirmal Singh Bhangoo.

 

Local companies such as Ausco Modular, Brisbane based BMD, Happy Haus and Hutchinson Builders, which has been commissioned by BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance to construct 300 houses, are all vying for contracts in the resources boom. Foreign groups are also keen to get a foothold in Australia such as the Frankfurt-listed Nexis Holdings, the China-based Qingdao Tenglong Aluminium Industries Co and more recently the MAC Services Group which was taken over last year in a $650 million deal from US-based Oil States International.

 

Other smaller players such as Modscape, Riverglen Cottages, Silverline Prefabricated, All Seasons, ATCC, Glendale Homes, CNH Transportable Homes and APB Modular are all racing to cash in on increasing demand for what has also been marketed as the product to revolutionise affordable traditional housing. Pearls Australasia director David Higgins said he wanted to compete only within mass-produced products and avoid the high end luxury residential prefabricated homes that companies such as Modscape create.

 

“We are doing the rapid form style production we aren’t going for the top end” Mr Higgins said. “We are chasing volume, so we compete with the bottom end”. Pearls has been working closely with the federal Austrade team in India to open up markets to the Internationally patented, Queensland invented building system that produces the MiiHome – a simple lower energy home with all the usual electrical and plumbing standards required of residential homes. “I don’t need highly skilled labour — the carpenters, the roofers to build our houses.” Mr Higgins said. “I just need a few semi-skilled workers and a leading hand.” Pearls Global estimates that, from the time an order comes in the company can have the home ready to live in within six weeks. Pearls Global also has an advantage in providing vendor finance. “Having Pearls behind us we can offer a whole selection of financial instruments from our balance sheet which gives a lot of opportunity for those who need the product to lease and rent.” Mr Higgins said.

 

The company, which is backed by billionaire chairman Nirmal Singh Bhangoo, is also targeting Asian countries where volumes are much higher. “Private groups have huge demand for houses,” Mr Higgins said. “One developer in Mumbai has a 50,000 acre (20,000-plus hectare) site ready for 100,000 houses. This is just the tip of the iceberg.” Modscape has said it experienced a 300 per cent increase in production Capacity in the last year, and estimated its turnover for the 2011-12 year would be about $15 million.