Press & News
500th sale achieved
at Navigation Point, Castleford!
15 September 2022
Merlion Capital Corporation Ltd is
20 years old!
19 September 2021
Merlion man conquers mountain - and malady
ESTATES GAZETTE - 17th January 2009
Merlion Capital slimmed down dramatically last month.
However, the move was not part of a strategic downsizing due to market conditions, but the result of a nasty bug contracted by the company's founder, Charles Chamberlain, as he struggled up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise money for Prostate Cancer Research.
Despite the bug - which helped him lose 12lbs in weight - Chamberlain reached Uhuru Peak, the mountain's summit, and raised £3,000 for the charity.
Chemical peel to regenerate Yorkshire town
ESTATES GAZETTE 12 March 2005
A 42-acre former chemicals plant in the centre of Castleford, Yorkshire, is to be transformed into a £120m development. This week, Merlion Capital Corporation, controlled by entrepreneur Charles Chamberlain, bought the site bordered by the rivers Aire and Calder, from Lambson Fine Chemicals. A planning application has been submitted to redevelop the site as 1,337 flats and houses, along with shops, bars and cafes. The scheme will also include a landscaped park and formal squares, four children's play areas and an eco-park. Access to the riverside will be increased and moorings for houseboats planned. The project is expected to take 10 years to complete.
Castleford has been the centre of continued regeneration efforts by Wakefield MDC, a local residents' group, Yorkshire Forward and Channel 4, which is working on a documentary about the regeneration.
Chamberlain created Merlion in 2001 after taking over the entire 1m sq ft development portfolio of Summit Property. Summit was previously owned by giant support service company Summit Group, which attempted a £70m reverse takeover of Chesterton in 1998.
Summit buyer sells off stock to private buyers
ESTATES GAZETTE 12 July 2003
The man who took over Summit Property has sold its entire investment portfolio in two years.
Charles Chamberlain set up Merlion Capital Corporation (MCC) with a consortium of Singapore investors in October 2001. He has since then sold off its completed developments to a series of private investors.
MCC bought Summit Property from Summit Group, which attempted a £70m reverse takeover of Chesterton in 1998. The sales included properties in Leeds, Epsom, Portsmouth and Kings Rd, SW3, raising £52m and removing all of the company's bank debt. Chamberlain said "If timing is the secret of sex, comedy and property, we will have to wait to see whether we are right to sell".
Chamberlain said MCC was now sourcing "the type of stock that nobody wants" in the South and Midlands. "We will probably steer clear of the intensively competitive investment market with long leases and good covenants, but would buy poor-quality, short-term income producers or sites with no income at all", he said.
Founder member links up with Singapore investors to buy the company Summit buyout mounted
ESTATES GAZETTE 13 October 2001
One of the founder members of Summit Property has teamed up with a consortium of Singaporean investors to take control of the company. Charles Chamberlain will head the new venture, called Merlion Capital Corporation, which has acquired Summit's entire 1m sq ft development programme. The move takes the company out of the hands of giant support service company Summit Group, which attempted a £70m reverse takeover of Chesterton in 1998. Summit Group will continue to concentrate on its role as a provider of development capital to business services groups.
Joining Chamberlain from Summit is Jonathan Parnes, whose speciality is residential development. He has also recruited Bruce Cattrell from Stannifer and Philip Ringrose of Gardner Weller. Chamberlain said: "I was under an umbrella with an acquaintance during a storm on holiday in Barbados last year. I told him I'd been thinking about taking over the property portfolio of Summit Group for some time and he put me in touch with the Singaporeans. Things just took their course".
The former Summit Property portfolio is valued at over £80m. It includes three mixed-use schemes in Basingstoke, which total more than 37,160m2 (400,000 sq ft), a refurbishment of the 5,574 m2 (60,000 sq ft) Student Halls in Kings Road, SW3, and a 12ha (30-acre) industrial site in Aylesford, Kent. Merlion is looking to spend up to £50m on new projects across the UK over the next six months. Chamberlain said: "I expect to rationalise the Summit Property portfolio within the next six to nine months. We have significant capital resources and are already on the cusp of making a £25m-plus offer for a London investment".
The Singaporean consortium has bought property in the UK before, most notably through a £35m residential conversion of Cambridge Gate in Regents Park, NW1, with the Crown Estate.