SINGAPORE (July 16): Developer Oxley Holdings is taking advantage of sharply lower prices following the announcement of tougher property cooling measures after market closed on July 5 to step up the ongoing buyback programme of its own shares.

Both company executive chairman Ching Chiat Kwong and deputy CEO Eric Low bought shares as well. On July 10 and 11, Low bought a total of 2.97 million shares at an average price of between 35 and 36 cents each, giving him a total stake of 27.7%, up from 27.63% previously.

Ching, who is the single largest shareholder, bought a total of nearly 10.7 million shares between July 10 and 12, at between 35 and 36 cents each. He now owns 41.45% of the company, up from 41.23% previously.

Oxley bought back the company’s shares on July 6 and 9. On July 6, it bought two million shares at between 33.5 cents and 34.5 cents each. On July 9, it bought back another one million shares at between 34.5 cents and 35 cents apiece. Following these purchases, Oxley now holds a total of 9.3 million treasury shares, out of a total share base of 4.04 billion.

As a developer with one of the largest exposures to the local residential market, Oxley suffered from heavy selling by investors reacting to the latest round of cooling measures. Its shares were sold down from 41 cents to as low as 34 cents on July 6, before ending the day down 14.6% at 35 cents. On July 9, its shares fell further and closed at 33 cents. Year to date, Oxley shares are down 40%.

To be sure, Oxley had been buying back its own shares — albeit in smaller volumes — even before the most recent round of measures. The company has a mandate from shareholders to buy back up to 147.4 million shares for the year, starting on Oct 31, 2017.

Before this, it bought 100,000 shares at 40 cents each on July 4; 200,000 shares at 41 cents each on July 3; 300,000 shares at 40.5 cents each on July 2; 200,000 shares at 41.5 cents each on June 29 and 200,000 shares at 41 cents each on June 28.

The government surprised the property market when it announced on July 5 that buyers of a second private property now need to pay additional buyers’ stamp duty of 12% of the property’s selling price, up from 7% previously. Those buying their third or more property will have to pay a heftier ABSD of 15%, from 10%. First-time buyers of private properties have not been spared. They can now borrow only 75% of the property price, from 80% previously.

Oxley, under Ching, is known to be different from more conservative developers, which prefer to grow a significant proportion of recurring rental income. The company prefers to acquire land or existing properties and turn them around quickly. It has been snapping up various plots of land over the last few months.

So far this year, Oxley has launched five residential projects, with varying proportions of units sold. For example, all 170 units of Verandah Residences have been sold and revenue of $249 million will be booked. Two other smaller projects are almost fully sold as well: 52 of 60 units at Sixteen35, and 21 out of 24 units at Sea Pavillion Residences have been sold, generating revenue of $48 million and $28 million, respectively. Affinity At Serangoon, which has 300 units for its first phase, has already moved 130 units, which translates into total revenue of $160 million.

The biggest project Oxley has on hand is Riverfront Residences. The joint venture with <strong>KSH Holdings</strong>, <strong>SLB Development</strong> and Apricot Capital will have a total of nearly 1,500 units. According to Oxley, 575 out of the 800 units in the first phase of the development have been sold, which translates into total sales of $515 million. Sales of these five projects so far means some $1 billion in revenue can be booked by Oxley. In addition, the company will be able to book $446 million from overseas project sales. For Oxley and other developers, the bigger question is how quickly they can move the projects they have on hand but have not started selling. This latest round of cooling measures has been seen as “heavy handed” as they are expected to halt the nascent recovery of the property market.

Oxley has $3.8 billion worth of projects that it plans to launch by year-end. Two of the biggest ones, Vista Park and Mayfair, are slated for launch in September. Besides local projects, it also has an additional $3.1 billion worth of overseas developments to be launched this year.

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