Source : Sunday Times - 5 Apr 2009
October 2005: Some Horizon Towers owners moot idea of collective sale and kick off process.
March 2006: Two of them, Mr Arjun Samtani and Mr Tan Kah Gee, buy more units.
April 2006: Sale process formally launched. Within three months, the sale committee - which includes Mr Samtani and Mr Tan - obtains consent level for a sale.
May 2007: Some majority owners circulate a letter asking neighbours to band together to back out of deal.
August 2007: Strata Titles Board (STB) throws out collective sale. HPL sues majority owners.
January 2007: Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) and partners agree to buy estate for $500 million, or about $800 per sq ft (psf) of potential gross floor area.
April 2007: Neighbouring Grangeford Apartments sets a record asking price of $2,016 psf.
September 2007: Sale committee quits, leaving deal in limbo. HPL chief Ong Beng Seng meets owners to discuss sale, after which owners vote to extend sale deadline. About a week later, owners go to High Court to reverse STB’s dismissal of the sale. HPL adjourns its suit against the owners.
October 2007: High Court judge Choo Han Teck overturns STB’s ruling to abort deal. The majority owners go back to STB in second attempt to get approval for sale.
December 2007: STB approves sale this time around.
January 2008: Nine sets of minority owners appeal to High Court to overturn STB’s decision. When hearing starts two months later, two sets of minority owners drop out.
July 2008: Justice Choo dismisses minority owners’ appeal.
February 2009: Four of the remaining sets of minority owners make a last-ditch attempt to save their homes by taking the fight up to the Court of Appeal.
April 2, 2009: The Court of Appeal, comprising Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and V.K. Rajah, finally rejects sale for good, noting various errors by the sale committee, STB and High Court.
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