balinews THE Singaporean buyers of Bali-based entrepreneur Tony Smith's Seminyak resort have flagged their interest in the Australian hotel market. The privately owned KOP Properties, which is poised to re-develop Mr Smith's Semara Resort & Spa in the heart of Bali's trendy Seminyak, also owns the boutique Cranley Hotel in South Kensington, London, as well as a luxury resort on Indonesia's Batam Island. "If the right opportunity comes to us, we will certainly consider Australia," said KOP Properties chief executive Leny Suparman, in a statement to The Weekend Australian. "At the moment, these are not in the plans for the near future, but plans can change given the right opportunity." KOP Properties developed the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Singapore comprising 56 apartments and two penthouses and completed 45 residences and 88 villas at Montigo Resorts, Nongsa on Batam Island that it operates. Southeast Asian investors have dominated hotel purchases in Australia this year. Three Marriott hotels were sold to the Malaysian conglomerate, the YTL-managed Starhill REIT, for $415 million and Singapore's Michael Kum head of M&L Hospitality is about to pour millions of dollars into building a third hotel tower abutting his Four Points by Sheraton in Sydney. Scores of Asian investors are also interested in acquiring two sandstone colonial-era buildings in the heart of Sydney for a hotel conversion, according to outgoing Tourism Australia managing director, Andrew McEvoy, the nation's key tourism official. In Bali, Ms Suparman said the Semara Seminyak, which was developed by Mr Smith and his Balinese partner and sold to KOP Properties earlier this year for an undisclosed sum, would undergo an extensive refurbishment and would re-open as Montigo Resorts, Seminyak in early 2015 - the second resort in the Montigo Resorts chain. Mr Smith, a former AFL footballer, rose to national prominence after developing a $60m beachfront house in Hedges Avenue on the Gold Coast just prior to the global financial crisis. He moved to Bali after the crash to build a tourism portfolio including developing the 63-room Semara Resort & Spa Complex. Mr Smith left the Gold Coast four years ago. He has since bought Bali's only private members club, the Canggu Club near Seminyak, and has plans to redevelop the 3.54ha site into a luxury resort and sporting centre. As well as redeveloping the Canggu Club, which features a school and sporting facilities, Mr Smith and his wife, Simone, together with their Balinese partner, plan to increase the club's membership from its present level of about 700. Mr Smith said the club's facilities would be greatly improved. They have bought the club and its site on a 41-year lease, which they are looking to extend. Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian
