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Singapore’s Well Smart Group, which already has substantial holdings in Australia, has emerged as the discount buyer of Queensland’s rundown Lindeman Island.
However the deal is still subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Speaking from Singapore on Thursday night Well Smart Group director Jack Jia confirmed to The Australian he was negotiating to purchase Lindeman Island for a price believed to be around $10m – buying it from Chinese cable TV operator White Horse, which had initially put an asking price of $20m on it.
Mr Jia issued a statement on Thursday night stating that he planned to comprehensively restore and upgrade the existing former Club Med resort on the island which has been abandoned for more than a decade.
Mr Jia said his company was committed to minimising any negative impact on the environment, while investing in sustainable infrastructure to make the resort the most environmentally friendly in the Whitsundays.
He planned to invest several millions of dollars in Lindeman Island, which is off Airlie Beach, to upgrade its dilapidated electrical infrastructure.
“Our vision for Lindeman Island is to provide a high-quality, environmentally conscious and family-friendly resort in the Whitsunday area,” Mr Jia said.
“We believe that there is a shortage of such accommodations in the area and have faith in the potential of the Whitsunday region to become one of the best tourism and holiday destinations in Australia.”
Jack Jia has committed to restoring Lindeman Island’s dilapidated resort to its former glory. Picture: Ron Altmann
Mr Jia’s Well Smart Group has long invested in Australian hospitality assets. It already controls the Ibis and Novotel Central Hotels in Melbourne which have a combined total of 472 rooms.
Well Smart also owns the Mantra Club Croc at Airlie Beach in Queensland’s Far North as well as a site with development approval for a hotel in Baxter St, Mascot near Sydney Airport.
William Han’s White Horse Group paid $12m for Lindeman Island in 2012 and struggled to get Queensland government approval to develop it into a luxury resort aimed at cashed-up Chinese mainlander tourists.
White Horse opted to sell Lindeman Island with an asking price of $20m last year but accepted an offer of $10m from high-profile Queensland property developers Shaun and Samantha Juniper at that price.
As revealed by The Australian in February, the Junipers decided to not proceed with the deal, having failed to sell their residential estate on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
The collapse of that deal paved the way for Well Smart to buy the 136ha Lindeman Island at half the asking price through CBRE agents Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvell.
But Mr Jia said in a statement the deal was still subject to FIRB approval as well as the approval of a lease transfer.
Mr Bunz and Ms Manvell declined to comment.
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