SEOUL: I-Berhad (4251), an integrated ICT-based developer, will partner a foreign firm to replicate South Korea's Lotte World at its multibillion-ringgit i-City development in Shah Alam, Selangor- The idea is to earn new corporate tenants at i-City and improve the company's earnings, said I-Berhad chief executive officer Datuk Eu Hong Chew- Lotte World, built by Korea's Lotte Group in 1989, comprises a hotel, mall, the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park and retails- When asked if I-Berhad will partner Lotte or has had any discussions with the group, Eu declined to comment- "We are looking at the Lotte World concept, an attraction within the city, to build up i-City- We are looking at other things," he said on the sidelines after visiting some of South Korea's major attractions this week- I-Bhd is building up its tourism products at i-City to generate new income stream- Eu said I-Bhd targets to be profitable in the current year ending December 31 2011 driven by growth within all its three divisions, the newest being tourism- I-Berhad also targets to generate 50 per cent income from property de-velopment, and 25 per cent each from property investment and tourism- The company, which has been developing i-City since 2005, was able to break even in the last two financial years mainly because it sold and rented data centres with a combined 500,000 sq ft of space- "We will be adding new attractions this year- The idea is not to make money from tourism but for it to complement our knowledge centre- We believe having certain tourism products and new ideas will attract multi-national firms and small and medium enterprises," Eu said- For the nine months ended September 30 2010, I-Berhad posted a net loss of RM1-73 million on revenues of RM6-4 million- I-Berhad is planning to invest RM10 million this year to equip its existing SnoWalk attraction at i-City with real snow fall- On Wednesday, I-Berhad signed a strategic alliance agreement with BK Korea, a super snow machine manufacturer, in Seoul for exclusive rights to use the later's machines in Malaysia- At the signing, Eu said the snow fall will attract more visitors to i-City- Currently, SnoWalk, which has been operating since last December, is attracting 90,000 visitors per week- BK Korea will assemble the equipment in Seoul and ship them to i-City in March- ...
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