Oei Hong Leong buys land for Buddha museum

Jan 23, 2007
The Straits Times

TYCOON Oei Hong Leong is paying $29.8 million for a plot of land on which he will build a museum to display his vast collection of Buddha statues. The approximately 55,000 sq ft site along Pasir Panjang Road contains two buildings which will be demolished. They will be replaced by the museum and an office block which will have sea views.

Mr Oei owns about 10,000 Buddha statues, many rescued from temples that would have been submerged once the water level rose along China's Three Gorges Dam.

Mr Oei, who has been collecting Buddha statues for years, has long been searching for a suitable location to display them. The statues are mostly stored in warehouses at the moment.

The new museum could well house the largest private collection of Buddha statues in the world.

Novena Holdings, which sold the plot to Mr Oei, has yielded a quick $2.3 million profit. It entered into options to buy the buildings only two months ago as an alternative to using rented premises as furniture showrooms.

Mr Oei has also invested about $10.71 million in the furniture retailer.

He swopped his 20 million Tung Lok Restaurants shares for about 10.3 million new Novena shares in a deal worth about $2.61 million.

Mr Oei will make a small paper profit while Novena gets a stake in a company that fits within the consumer lifestyle segment it is targeting. Novena already owns 13 per cent of Apex-Pal International, the holding company of the Sakae Sushi chain.

Mr Oei has also paid $8.1 million in cash for 27 million new Novena shares.

At 30 cents a share, it marks a 17 per cent premium over the average price of 25.7 cents last Tuesday.

For Mr Oei, 'with the property boom and the integrated business, furniture will be a good business in the coming years'.

But he also added: 'I like their corporate culture of giving. Mr Toh Soon Huat makes less than half a million dollars but gives away $200,000 to charity,' referring to Novena's chief executive.

Novena, which recorded $1.7 million in profits for 2005, gave away $260,000 to charity.