Blackstone Closes on $1.1B China Logistics Deal and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In our latest roundup of regional news headlines, private equity bigfoot Blackstone cinches a sizeable stake in a Guangzhou logistics park, advertising giant Dentsu considers putting up its Tokyo headquarters building for sale, and Frasers Property scraps a Vietnam joint venture after a mixed-use project failed to make progress.

Blackstone Completes $1.1B Investment in Guangzhou Logistics Park

R&F Properties has raised $1.1 billion by selling a majority stake in its huge urban logistics park in the Greater Bay Area in a sign that heavily indebted mainland Chinese developers are gearing up to offload assets.

The sale of a 70 percent stake in Guangzhou International Airport R&F Integrated Logistics Park to Blackstone Real Estate has been completed, according to a statement from Blackstone on Wednesday. The mainland developer still holds the remaining 30 percent. Read more>>

Dentsu Mulls Selling Tokyo Headquarters Building for $2.9B

Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Group is considering selling its 48-storey headquarters building in Tokyo for some JPY 300 billion ($2.9 billion), which would make it the highest-priced building to be sold in Japan, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

The possible sale would come as many of 9,000 Dentsu employees at the headquarters are working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic as part of efforts to curb infections, and only about 20 percent of them currently commute to the office, the sources said. Read more>>

Chinese Proptech Startup Bags Funding From Sequoia-Linked ZhenFund, GGV

Chinese property tech startup Blue Wall said it has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round led by early stage venture capital firm ZhenFund and US-based GGV Capital.

Established in 2019, Blue Wall uses artificial intelligence, big data and cloud technology to allow owners, field workers and other parties involved in real estate work to communicate, share information and track progress in one platform. Read more>>

Frasers Terminates Vietnam JV After HCMC Project Stalls

Frasers Property Ltd on 20 January announced that it has terminated an agreement with Vietnamese property firm Tran Thai Lands Co to invest $18 million in a project the Vietnamese firm planned to develop in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2.

The agreement was entered into in April 2018, with the two parties planning to develop the Phu An Khang Real Estate mixed-use project after Frasers signed up for a 75 percent stake. But the project failed to make progress more than two years after the joint venture was signed. Read more>>

CICT Malls Post Rental Reversion of Negative 6.6% in FY20

Rental reversions at CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust’s malls were a negative 6.6 percent in FY20, but the chief executive of the manager, Tony Tan, hopes that this is the bottom for the real estate investment trust. The REIT would only be willing to accept lower rents for tactical reasons, he said, such as to include certain brands that would improve traffic for a mall.

Throughout the COVID-19 period, Tan said, CICT has had to balance between retaining tenants and managing rentals. Read more>>

Offices Remain Top Choice for APAC Property Investors in 2021

Real estate investors in Asia Pacific are most likely to put money into offices in 2021, with 31 percent of respondents choosing the sector over other market segments in a recent survey.

That’s despite huge changes to workplaces following the coronavirus pandemic, such as work-from-home arrangements becoming the norm last year. Read more>>

Cold Storage Facilities a Long-Term Play, Says M&G

Asset manager M&G Real Estate expects cold storage to shine in the long run as investors, now flush with liquidity, hunt for alternatives in the Asia Pacific property market.

Life sciences and data centres are also likely to continue to gain prominence, although the global investment manager advised discipline and caution before jumping into opportunities. Read more>>

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