Case study 1: Intellectual property can be used as collateral soon

I bring up this article as one of my clientele which is a factory owner(currently in his capacity as Managing Director) would like to sell his business in paper pulp and tooling (as IP), and his factory as one entity.

This is a new venture for real estate and an in-depth study need to be conducted.

Sunday April 29,2012

KUANTAN: A valuation system is being drawn up to allow intellectual property (IP) to be used as collateral for business development soon.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said although IPs were a new source of income generation for the country, these had yet to be accepted as collateral by financial institutions.

“This is important because this type of financing plays a big part in business development. The Government realises this situation and is in talks with agencies to form an intellectual property valuation model for this purpose,” he said after the launch of the National Intellectual Property Day here yesterday.

Ismail Sabri added that the model, which would make it easier for the exploitation of IPs from lab to market, would benefit their owners.

“We hope financial institutions will support this initiative,” he said.

Developed countries, he added, already had IP valuation systems, which allowed properties such as films and songs to be used as collateral because of the value tagged to them. “It is still very early for us.”

Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, who launched the event, urged IP owners to register their products in order to avoid these from being copied by others.

“Without registration, the products will be exposed to copycat risks by irresponsible parties. This will cause great loss to owners and their businesses,” he said.

Source reference link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/29/nation/11200121&sec=nation

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Penang named most liveable city for second time

Published: Monday April 23, 2012 MYT 3:09:00 PM
Updated: Monday April 23, 2012 MYT 5:29:33 PM

By ANDREA FILMER

GEORGE TOWN: Penang has been named as the country's most liveable city for two consecutive years, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

Quoting the annual ECA Location Ratings research, Lim said Penang had maintained its position as Asia's eighth most liveable city, while Kuala Lumpur had dropped from ninth to 10th.

"If we only beat them once, people may say it's a fluke. But we have repeated the feat this year.

"It's not a fluke, it's a fact," Lim told a press conference in Komtar here Monday.

He said listed criteria for the ranking included quality of living, climate, health service, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure and political tensions.

According to the survey, Singapore maintained its grip on the top spot and also retained its global ranking as the number one most liveable city in the world.

Kobe, Japan stayed at the second spot of Asia's most liveable cities, followed by Hong Kong, Tokyo and Yokohama (tied at fourth), Taipei and Macau.

Seoul, that was ranked as Asia's 10th most liveable city in 2011, edged Kuala Lumpur to tie with George Town in this year's ranking.

ECA International, which carries out the location rating annually, is an international consulting firm that specialises in providing and developing solutions for the management and assignment of employees around the world.

Source reference link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/23/nation/20120423152457&sec=nation

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Deal-based websites – a new lease for properties?

Posted on April 20, 2012

Here’s a pop quiz: name the biggest online trend now. Twitter? Facebook? Google+? You may well be wrong, actually.

Check it's out...http://www.groupon.my/deals/national-deal/osk-property-holdings/716030336?nlp=&CID=MY_CRM_1_0_0_119&a=715827970

Deal-based websites like Groupon Malaysia, Dealmates, and Living Social are fast becoming a growing trend, especially catching on with young urban professionals based around the Klang Valley urban strip.

Click open any of the above websites, and there is bound to be a couple of deals which will seem irresistible to you – with up to 95% discounts for food, jewellery, bargain vacations and right up to baby bottles.

The best part about these deals is that what you see is what you get – there are no hidden charges (unless stated, which makes them “unhidden”) and the quality is never compromised.

Here’s the tricky part – can the property market and its developers play a role in this new business model?

Last week, OSK Property Holdings Berhad and Groupon Malaysia collaborated on an exclusive one-of-a-kind discount deal, where buyers pay RM500 for an RM8000 cash voucher, which can be redeemed for the developer’s latest premium property, Paragon @ Pangaea, a SOFO Suites development in Cyberjaya.

The developers have made it even more attractive, by making the cash voucher valid for the property’s downpayment, and providing refunds for buyers who are unable to purchase the unit of their choice or whose bank loans have been rejected.

Now, isn’t this a good way to spend RM500?

As of now, 14 people have bought the deal on Groupon’s website, and it can be considered quite a healthy number, judging from the fact that buying a property is not like buying a t-shirt – it’s a lifetime investment, and requires long-term commitment.

Discounts are always appreciated, and developers can really benefit from marketing their properties on such deal-based websites instead of only relying on mass media, as they tend to reach out to the right crowd and word-of-mouth will definitely spread the word through.

Social media will always remain relevant to today’s youth community and are recommended for every property developer, but deal-based websites provide a direct platform for them to actually see and purchase cash vouchers or coupons to buy their own piece of property – the kind of purchasing power any consumer will feel good about.

We think OSK’s plunge into the discount market will definitely stir some competition and inspire other developers to walk a similar path by making use of the myriad of deal-based websites frequented by Klang Valley’s yuppies.

It would be interesting to see if this latest trend manages to make a lasting mark on the online business-property relationship, like how the Internet became a platform to look for property years ago.

Below picture: Paragon @ Pangaea, OSK's Groupon pioneer

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