Joint plan to build 500 Asian immigrant homes

ONE of Canada's largest immigrant investor funds and a Vancouver-based property development firm have announced they will form a new C$10 million (about HK$60 million) joint venture to build up to 500 single family homes for Asians immigrating to the country.

The Canadian Maple Leaf Financial Corp and the Molnar Group said finance for the project was being raised through an offering memorandum of 400 units - each worth C$25,000 - of Canadian Maple Leaf Molnar Housing.

Investors could expect annual returns of about 24 per cent over five years.

The fund's senior vice-president of marketing, Mr Wilson Ng, said the scheme was primarily designed to give Asian immigrant investors, already living in Canada, the opportunity to participate in future Vancouver residential developments.

''We have about 400 clients from Hongkong, Taiwan and [South] Korea waiting to come in, but we are only going to promote this fund to our existing client base of about 800 people in Vancouver and Toronto,'' he said.

''We're not really aiming to raise capital through a public offering in Hongkong.

''The main reason we created this product is because many of our clients ask us from time to time what business they can do here, or what kind of investment would be secure, because a lot of them depend on bank interest for a living.