timing China?

Won’t you hate to be in the shoes of Mr Liew Mun Leong (left), the usually stern-faced boss of the CapitaLand Group which on Jan 18, 2010 announced that CapitaLand is acquiring a 100 per cent stake in property investment holding company Orient Overseas Developments for a ginormous US$2.2 billion (S$3.06 billion).

Cheers all round as both Mr Liew and his chairman, Dr Richard Hu, the former Finance Minister of Singapore, both waxed lyrical about what a coup it is to snap up in one deal a real estate business with a portfolio of seven sites located in Shanghai, Kunshan and Tianjin.

The Singapore stock market duly gave CapitaLand’s shares the thumbs’ up so that they soared above the $4  mark, giving hopes — short lived as they turned out to be — that the share price will go back to levels not seen since late October 2009, with some brokerages touting a $5+ target.

Then came the China tightening measures a few days after CapitaLand’s purchase, to cut back on lending, more specifically on property lending.

And that left the freshly announced CapitaLand purchase — to double its China property portfolio to 2.8 million sq m and increase the asset exposure to about 36 per cent of total assets – looking  slightly ill-timed.

Still, brokers are quick to suggest that the selling of CapitaLand shares following China’s credit moves as overdone and that the low of $3.74 reached during last week’s selling spree as a possible support level.

As CapitaLand’s 4Q09 results are due on Feb. 11, Mr Liew would surely be expected to give some guidance on what the group’s recent increase in China exposure would mean in light of China’s tightening.

Still, with its 15 years’ experience in China and penetration right across the Middle Kingdom, CapitaLand should be in a better position to read China’s credit runes than your average adventurer looking for gold in Chinese bricks and mortar.

So, I say, jiayou Mr Liew! Prove the bears of CapitaLand wrong.