Readers of today’s headlines may be sharpening their screenwriting skills as the opportunity to write the Chinese version of the Big Short is looking more likely than ever before. Also, in the news, China’s richest man adds marathons to his collection of triathalons, and HNA has some interesting things to say about the importance of hormones in the workplace. Read on for all these stories and more.
Credit Squeeze Pushes Developers to Asset-Backed Securities
The financing squeeze on Chinese developers, part of government efforts to rein in home price inflation, is pushing developers to turn to alternative financing models, including asset securitisation.
Asset securitisation, previously a strange term for developers, has become the talk of the town in Beijing . An average of three to four forums on the topic are now being held every week in the capital, drawing crowds of developers, securities brokers, trusts and law firms. Read more>>
CapitaLand Profit Rises 77% After Block Sale of Homes
Property giant CapitaLand posted a net profit of S$386.8 million in Q1 2017, up 77.2 percent from a year ago. The strong growth came on the back of improved operating performance, including a gain of S$160.9 million from the bulk sale of 45 units at The Nassim, and higher portfolio gains.
Meanwhile, group revenue rose 0.4 percent to S$897.5 million from the same period last year. This was attributed to more handovers of development projects in China and rental contribution from newly acquired properties. Read more>>
Dalian Wanda Branches Out into Marathons
China’s Dalian Wanda Group, controlled by the country’s richest man Wang Jianlin, has signed a deal to sponsor races with the world’s top organizer, Abbott World Marathon Majors (WMM), the latest move by Wanda to expand its global sports business.
Wanda’s sports division and WMM on Wednesday signed a deal that will see Wanda hold three WMM races in the Asia-Pacific region in the next ten years, including a race in China. Read more>>
HNA Attributes Success to “Passion” and “Hormones”
As Chinese investment overseas surged last summer, one of the most aggressive of those investors, airlines-to-hotels conglomerate HNA Group, got an ultra-flashy private jet.
A 2,408-square-foot Boeing 787 Dreamliner that normally seats 300, the plane was tricked out with $100 million worth of features such as marble-laminated bathrooms, Hermès flatware and Baccarat crystal. HNA planned to charter it to rich clients as well as to its own executives, according to people familiar with the plane and promotional videos. Read more>>
Landing Group Launches First Phase of Korean Casino Project
After earlier this year finalizing a deal to take full control of the under-construction Jeju Shinhwa World integrated casino resort in South Korea, Chinese real estate firm Landing International Development Limited has now reportedly opened the Jeju Island scheme’s condominium development.
According to a report from GGRAsia, the 344-unit Somerset Jeju Shinhwa World is being operated by The Ascott Limited, which is a subsidiary of Singapore-based CapitaLand Limited, and has been designed to appeal to leisure and business travelers and their families. Each of the development’s three-bedroom condominiums offers a well-equipped kitchen as well as separate living and dining areas, a balcony, a wine chiller, a washing machine, a dishwasher and a centralized home automation system while guests can also take advantage of a nearby gymnasium and sauna. Read more>>
China’s Housing Fund Widens Economic Divide, Study Says
China’s housing fund has become less accessible to low-income groups because of an unwillingness of particularly private-sector employers to contribute to it and because of red tape, a study has found.
The fund, setup by the government in 1999 after the abolition of housing subsidies for workers, allows employees to save money towards home purchases. The deposits can be used as collateral for loans with lower interest rates than the market rate. Balances can also be withdrawn for down payments, construction and renovation, or to pay back a mortgage. Read more>>
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