PanaHome to launch four projects in the Klang Valley

Smart town: Smart houses built by Panahome for the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town. Wakabayashi says the group could utilise the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town model to expand its housing business in the Asean region

Panahome Corp aims to implement two condominium and two landed property projects in the Klang Valley with a gross construction cost of about RM344mil in 2016.

“The two condominium schemes are scheduled for ground-breaking in April and July 2016, and are targeted for completion in March and July 2019.

“The landed homes, scheduled for ground-breaking in 2016, are targeted for completion in November 2017 and August 2018,” PanaHome overseas business division director Nobuo Takahashi says.

“We plan to achieve 50bil yen (RM1.78bil) in sales for the financial year 2018 from the housing business in Asia.

He says Malaysia is expected to generate 15bil yen (RM540mil), while the Asean region another 10bil yen (RM360mil).

“The remaining 25bil yen (RM830mil) will come from Taiwan,” Takahashi added.

In Malaysia and the Asean region, PanaHome would build properties catering to middle income groups with an annual pay of US$30,000 (RM130,000) to US$45,000 (RM194,000) and to the high-end segment with an annual income of US$45,000 (RM194,000) to US$100,000 (RM430,000).


Futuristic design: Smart condos planned for Shioashiya Smart City. The group had developed 80 detached houses and 83 condominiums for Shioashiya Smart City, scheduled for completion in 2021.

“We will use the pre-cast concrete construction to meet the demand and specifications in the Asean region,” he says.

In Indonesia, Panahome plans to develop 1,720 units for two township projects.

“In one of the projects, scheduled for ground-breaking in June 2016, the plan is to build 320 unit,” he says.

For the other Indonesian project, the plan is to build up to a maximum of 1,400 units.

In Thailand, Panahome plans to launch high-rise projects, which will be completed in November 2017 and March 2019.

PanaHome had in April set up a wholly-owned subsidiary PanaHome Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, which will focus on the expansion of the housing business in the Asean region except Malaysia.

In Malaysia, PanaHome Malaysia will transfer the projects it has in the Asean region except Malaysia to PanaHome Asia Pacific, so that it could focus on the business in the country.

For the financial year ending March 2019, Panasonic Corporation is targeting 10 trillion yen (RM360bil) in revenue, of which two trillion (RM72bil) is expected to come from its housing business division, comprising solutions for solar panels, lighting, and wiring devices.

Of the two trillion yen, PanaHome aims to generate 500bil (RM17.8bil) yen, of which 50bil yen (RM1.78bil) is expected to be contributed from overseas.

Meanwhile, PanaHome Asia Pacific managing director Kohjiroh Wakabayashi says that the group could utilise the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (FSST) model to expand its housing business in the Asean region, collaborating with Panasonic Eco Solutions company.

“We are currently negotiating for smart property projects, such as condominiums and service apartments, to be developed in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar, which have a value of 14.6bil yen (RM520mil) ,” he says.

The 60bil yen (RM2.14bil) FSST project, which is being developed in the Kanagawa prefecture to serve a population of 3,000 people, is scheduled for completion in 2018.

PanaHome is also developing the Shioashiya Smart City project in the Hyogo Prefecture, comprising smart homes equipped with a solar cell, fuel cell, and a energy creation-storage linked system to become a net zero energy town, with virtually zero carbon emissions.

PanaHome Corporation development environment branch leader Yasuhiro Muraoka says the group has developed 80 detached houses and 83 condominiums for Shioashiya Smart City, scheduled for completion in 2021.

On the impact of depreciating Asean currencies, Panasonic Asia Pacific says in a statement that the currency depreciation itself would not affect expansion plans as mid-term growth plans had been put in place, focusing on five business areas of consumer electronics, housing, automotive, business to business (B2B) solutions and devices, with housing and automotive as growth drivers.

“From the regional perspective, the strategic regions comprising South-East Asia and Oceania are the growth drivers.

“Countries in the Asean region, like Myanmar especially, are seeing rising infrastructure developments and the consumers are hungry for goods and services that will improve their quality of life

“Panasonic sees the opportunity to provide business to consumers (B2C) and B2B products and solutions that will create a better life, a better world for people in these developing nations,” the statement says.

The statement says since 2012 Panasonic has adopted “locally autonomous management” with integrated capability of product development, manufacturing, and sales, so that it is able to provide products and services that really meet the needs of local customers.

On its fiscal year 2015 first quarter results, the statement says sales increased particularly in the automotive, industrial and solutions business.

“The business performance forecast for this year is expected to remain unchanged, with sales driving growth mainly in the B2B solutions, automotive and housing business.

“While consumer electronics (B2C) is a growth driver for Panasonic in this region, there is also a strong focus on developing the B2B sector to tap on the increasing infrastructure investments across the region and the rapid demand growth across different industries including mobility, business communication, entertainment, and public safety as the countries develop,” the statement says. - By David Tan (The Star)