KUALA LUMPUR, 8 October 2009 - The country’s leading property players gathered here on Oct 8 to give recognition to the winners of The Edge Malaysia’s 7th Top Property Developers Award.

The 10 developers were Bandar Raya Developments Bhd, Bandar Utama City Corp Sdn Bhd, Eastern & Oriental Bhd, IGB Corp Bhd, IOI Properties Bhd, Island & Peninsular Sdn Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, Sunrise Bhd and Sunway City Bhd.

The companies were picked from a pool of 30 established property players.

The ranking of the Top 10 will be published in the Oct 12, 2009 issue of The Edge.

The Edge Malaysia’s Top Property Developers Award ranks the best property players in the country, from the consumer’s perspective, for both their quantitative and qualitative attributes.

“It is based on the conviction that the quantitative attribute of a developer alone is not sufficient to earn it the title of an outstanding player, said The Edge Malaysia’s managing director Tan Boon Kean in his speech at the award presentation on the evening of Oct 8. “Thus, both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the companies were scrutinised and judged.”

The “quantitative” elements were the companies’ shareholders’ funds, revenue, pre-tax profit, gearing, and cash and cash equivalents for the fiscal year ended 2008.

As for the “qualitative” attributes, they include the quality of the product, innovation and creativity, value creation for buyers, image and expertise.Also present at the event was the Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, who presented the award certificates to the captains of the 10 award-winning companies.

The qualitative attributes such as finish, timeliness, compliance and services are our greatest concerns for property developments, said Kong.

A seven-person panel of judges comprising distinguished names in the global and local property development arena adjudged the qualitative components of the contest.

The panel members were Datuk Alan Tong Kok Mau, the past world president for FIABCI; Datuk Eddy Chen Lok Loi; Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip; Kumar Tharmalingam; Datuk Richard Fong, president of FIABCI Malaysia; and Datuk Teo Chiang Kok.

Kumar and Teo are past presidents of FIABCI Malaysia while Chen and Ng are past presidents of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association of Malaysia. FIABCI is the French acronym for the International Real Estate Federation.

The seventh panel member was The Edge Malaysia’s executive editor of property and retailing, Au Foong Yee.

For the third year, Deloitte Malaysia audited the tabulation of both the quantitative and qualitative results.

Malayan Banking Bhd was the title sponsor for the event for the second year.

Maybank president and CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said the bank would continue to be supportive of the property market. We're also happy to support your ventures overseas, he added.

There were 15 entries from non-listed property developers, up from seven last year, when the awards first started attracting non-listed players.

As in previous years, all companies listed in the property sector of the Main and Second Boards of Bursa Malaysia have been automatically considered for the awards.

This year, the exercise to rank the property firms for the awards was conducted from June to August 2009.