Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1091272
NEWS 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MARCH 2019 MATTHEW VELLA MEMBERS of the group developing the Shore- line complex at Smart City, have issued a €2 million bond to finance a stake in retail food chain The Convenience Shop. The proceeds of the bond will be used by the company Gaia Investments to settle amounts due to EZ Holdings for its 25% acquisition of grocery chain The Convenience Shop Hold- ings (TCSH). The TCSH Group competes primarily in the mini-market segment, a highly competitive market in Malta that includes both domestic and international brands setting up franchises and chains. TCSH is also issuing its own €5 million bond, to finance a €2.7 million acquisition of various groceries and stories and €1.04 million in mi- nority stakes in other shops, including Daily Foods Limited, Furnata Ltd, Crust Limited, and Mqabba Shop Co Ltd. Of this, €1.54 mil- lion will be used to repay balances due to share- holders who reduced their effective sharehold- ing in the new group due to the restructuring that included buying out minority sharehold- ers. Another €1,500,000 will be used to finance new shop openings over the coming years, with an average of two new store openings per annum up to 2027, resulting in a total of 100 stores. Convenience Shop Holdings' executive direc- tor Joseph Pace started as the owner of JPS Su- permarket in 2001, and expanded the franchise from one shop in Zebbug to over 55 shops over a span of 10 years, using his own Marant Food Products as supplier." The net proceeds from the bond issue, amounting to some €1.94 million, will be used as a loan to the companies Chester Holdings and Middletown Investments (€1.7 million in equal amounts between them), to loan out to Gaia Investments. Of this, €200,000 and €848,706 will be used to finance the share transfer agreement from EZ Holdings, and €651,294 will be retained by Gaia Investments for general corporate fund- ing. Lawyers Kenneth Deguara, Kevin Deguara, and Jean Carl Farrugia, of DF Advocates, are owners of Chester Holdings, which holds a 50% stake in Gaia Investments. The other 50% is owned by Middletown Investments, a com- pany owned by Farrugia and Kevin Deguara. The bond issue will finance Gaia's 25% stake acquisition in TCSH. Middletown also owns a 30% stake in Shoreline Holdings, the luxury apartment block to be constructed within Smart City. EZ Holdings is owned by Emanuel Zammit. Convenience Shop franchise aims for 100 stores by 2027 JAMES DEBONO A vernacular old farm build- ing, located within Lija's Ur- ban Conservation Area of Lija in Triq Merino is being pro- posed for demolition to make way for a 24-room hotel pro- posed by CFA Limited. The development protrudes outside the development zone boundary to make way for a swimming pool, a storeroom and showers. The ODZ fields where this landscaped de- velopment is being proposed separate the residential area from the Mosta Road and the Blokrete factory. If approved, the proposed development will rise to four floors when overlooking the ODZ and to three floors on the urban conservation area presently characterised by two-storey houses. The Lija local council con- tends that the development which includes no parking fa- cilities would aggravate park- ing problems in the area and has deemed the height of the project excessive. More than 60 residents are objecting to the proposed hotel. Most have referred to parking and traffic problems noting that there are pres- ently only 16 parking bays in this square. Others have expressed con- cern on the loss of tranquility and the dangers of creating a precedent for the commer- cialisation of the residential area. The Environment and Re- sources Authority has already expressed its concern on any development which extends beyond the limit of the devel- opment zone. "Such interventions beyond the limit of the development zone would result in addi- tional urban sprawl leading to undesirable scheme extension which would potentially com- mit further undeveloped land for ancillary interventions". The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has ex- pressed concern that the de- velopment will create new blank party walls on both sides of the property in ques- tion. Moreover the SCH is against the total demolition of the farm building, noting that it includes architectural and masonry features like kileb, xoroq tal-qasba, raffijiet and xorok, which should be inte- grated in the new develop- ment. It also recommended that an animal manger and a fodder store are retained. 24-room hotel proposed inside Lija's village core MATTHEW VELLA THE developers of two boutique hotels have issued a €5 million bond to finance their projects, but the Swieqi local council's op- position to their hotel in Wied Ghomor could determine the outcome of their plans. The FES Group – which is owned by business consultant Christopher Vella and notary Reuben Debono – will use the proceeds for the €3.32 million acquisition of the hotel sites, while the rest will be used to redevelop a 28-room Gzira bou- tique hotel (€467,000) and the 23-room St Julian's boutique ho- tel (€1.11 million). The company includes Malta Communications Authority chairman Edward Woods as its company chairman, and former Malta Tourism Authority CEO Paul Bugeja as non-executive director. Although the FES Group has no history in operating boutique hotels, the Group has appointed Casa Boutiques Ltd and consult- ants Polymath & Boffin – owned by Vella – to operate and man- age the hotels. But the St Julian's site is also subject to an appeal by the Swieqi local council, which means the hotel is subject to the appeal be- ing denied by the Environment Planning Review Tribunal, and further redress in the law courts. The decision has been set for 4 April. The hotel is earmarked for a site previously occupied by a garage of 60sq.m, and is located outside the building zones on the valley side of Wied Ghomor between the Tigullio complex and the Mikiel Anton Vassalli bridge. The Planning Authority's ru- ral policy guidelines ban devel- opments that have "an adverse impact on important landscape features", but the PA case of- ficer entrusted with the project claimed the same policy permit- ted changes in use "results in a wider environmental benefit." The PA's planning commission approved the project. The Swieqi local council also objected to the development because of its visual impact. "This will produce a block which would be totally alien in terms of bulk, form, texture and scale to the rural quality of the context. The grabbing of more protected ODZ land by developers should not be tolerated." Wied Ghomor hotel developers seek €5 million bond finance The hotel is earmarked for a site on the valley side of Wied Ghomor between the Tigullio complex and the Mikiel Anton Vassalli bridge Shoreline developers seek €2m for 25% stake The development will rise to four floors when overlooking the ODZ and three floors on the urban conservation area presently characterised by two-storey houses