BT: Deals worth $120m secured in the past two months

Business Times - 11 Jan 2008

New contracts boost CSC's order book to $330m

Deals worth $120m secured in the past two months

SINGAPORE ground-engineering specialist CSC Holdings has won $120 million of foundation and geo-technical contracts from the public and private sectors in the past two months.

The deals have boosted its order book to some $330 million as of Wednesday this week, the group said in an update yesterday.

The new contracts are expected to be largely completed within 12 months.

CSC said construction demand in Singapore remains vibrant, with new potential projects on the horizon from redevelopment in Orchard and Beach roads, a proposed bio-diesel complex, a solar panel manufacturing plant, Jurong Island petrochemical plants, Tuas pharmaceutical hub, Phase 2 of the Business and Financial Centre and increased public housing projects.

To help position itself for the boom, CSC recently proposed to acquire an investment holding company of Singapore's largest earthworks contractor, Kok Tong Group, and leading tunnelling and automatic monitoring survey specialist Wisescan Engineering Services.

CSC has also entered into a joint-venture with Malaysia-based IJM Construction, which has experience in civil, building and infrastructure works and has an extensive Malaysian and regional network.

CSC is also exploring opportunities in Vietnam and the Middle East.

'The construction boom in Singapore and the region has presented many exciting opportunities and we will continue to seize the day,' said its chief executive See Yen Tarn.

'As the market continues to grow steadily we look forward to more opportunities to grow alongside our existing and potential partners in the construction sector and enhance our stakeholders' value.'

Major foundation contracts won recently from the public sector include The Tree Lodge, a Housing Development Board (HDB) project for the green precinct development at Punggol West; Fusionopolis, a project at the one-north research and innovation hub; and sections of the Mass Rapid Transport Downtown Line extension.

Private sector deals won include foundation contracts for The Reflections at Keppel Bay, a high-end waterfront residential condominium; a hotel and commercial development at Collyer Quay; and Mont Kiara @ Eleven, a luxury condominium development in Kuala Lumpur.

For the first six months ended September 2007, CSC's revenue was $185 million. This surpassed group revenue of $127 million for the full financial year ended March 2007.