AT LEAST 18 shop owners in Katong Mall have filed objections to a $219 million collective sale of the East Coast Road complex.
The owners, some of whom do not want to move from the mall, lodged a protest last month with the Strata Titles Board (STB), which deals with en bloc applications.
Property group Tuan Sing Holdings bought the mall, which has 256 units, in June.
It was one of the few collective property deals this year in a market that has been hit by the economic slowdown and rising building costs.
The shop owners are contesting the sale, though, saying proper procedures were not followed and the deal was conducted in bad faith.
Key among their concerns is that the two companies that owned 72 per cent of the mall, Golden Cape Investments and Megaton Investments, are wholly owned by buyer Tuan Sing Holdings.
When the mall went on the market in June, there were two bids - the lower one came from Tuan Sing-owned Golden Cape.
Although both were above the reserve price of $180 million, the property consultants were asked to negotiate better terms.
Golden Cape eventually increased its offer to $219 million.
While the final bid was almost $40 million above the reserve price, unit owner Jeanette Aruldoss said she is fighting the sale as 'a matter of principle'. The 45-year-old said the deal was struck in bad faith.
But Ms Stella Hoh, a local director at Jones Lang LaSalle, which handled the sale, said proper procedures were followed.
Store owners also complained the sales committee did not have the 80 per cent majority needed to approve the deal by Oct 4 last year.
New collective-sale rules kicked in islandwide that day, which meant the whole process would have been scuttled if the 80 per cent threshold had not been reached.
But Ms Hoh said the committee had 80 per cent support.
Tuan Sing declined comment when approached by The Straits Times.
The STB said the collective sale is scheduled to undergo mediation beginning on Nov 10.
