New Creation Church Buys The Star Vista For $300M; Wants To ‘Protect Interest Of Church’

I know, I know.

When you read the headlines, you probably went from something like:

Eh, S$300M, just another property deal, business as usual.

…

Hold on a sec. This is Goody Feed, why is there property news…?

New Creation? That’s a developer I’ve never heard of before.

Now just hold your jangles. That’s a god dam (pun intended) Church! Where in the burning fires of Satan did they get three hundo milliono?!

Ok. Perhaps it is a slight mistake. It’s actually not exactly S$300M.

But S$296 million.

To Protect The Interest Of The Church

You’re probably more interested in how a religious organisation that should be non-profit justifies chucking three hundo milliono at something that would by other methods of examination would be considered a business transaction.

You see, New Creation Church (NCC) happens to own The Star Performing Arts Centre (PAC) that is inside The Star Vista. It’s that 5,000 seat auditorium they use for church service and also a concert venue.

So when CapitaLand initiated a sale process for The Star Vista, NCC say they not happy; in the sense that since PAC serves as a place of worship, The Star Vista going to another buyer will bring unpredictability.

While in the fantasy stories I know, the church being in trouble financially means going to the hero for help to defeat the villain or gather funds, it seems to work the other way around in real life.

Council chairman, Deacon Yong Chee Ram: “Given that The Star Vista and The Star PAC are inextricably linked, our immediate objective… is both to protect the interest of the church and to preserve the good experience for all who come to The Star PAC.”

Yep. Apparently, in real life the Church didn’t need any help at all. On 30 October 2019 they bought the thing through their business arm Rock Productions, and it’s only on 20 November 2019 that they announced it.

Though, NCC says that The Star Vista will still remain commercial in accordance to zoning guidelines, and they were exploring possibilities for CapitaLand to continue operations and management of the mall.

And in case you’re wondering, NCC also has other service venues including Marina Bay Sands Ballrooms, Cathay Cineplex Causeway Point and GV Grand (Great World City).

For CapitaLand, This Is S$145M Net Proceeds

Although we’re not sure what other bidders were offering, the selling price to NCC is 13% above the S$262 million valuation for The Star Vista at the end of June.

And it’s a sweet S$145 million net proceeds for CapitaLand as part of their “asset recycling strategy”. Just in the past year, CapitaLand actually divested about S$5.7 billion worth of assets, which is more than their annual target divestment of S$3 billion.

In the past year, CapitaLand has divested close to $5.7 billion worth of assets, exceeding its annual target divestment of $3 billion.

A Little NCC History

In case you think a S$300 million purchase is new, NCC bought The Star PAC for S$500 million way back in 2007.

To talk about some money figures: in 2016 they had 31,000 members, and then made the news when they raised $21.1 million in a single day in 2010 mostly by contributions to its members.