Wang Sicong Leads $30M Investment in Kr Space and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

It should come as no surprise that co-working in China has made headlines once again as it seems to be the only thing people are talking about these days. Now, Wang Sicong, the son of China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, is getting in on the trend. Other news today includes a mainland developer abandoning a luxury condo conversion in New York City and Gaw Capital selling a Hyatt Regency in Japan for $153 million. Keep reading for all of the news today.

Wang Sicong-Led Prometheus, IDG Inject $30M in Co-Working Start-Up Kr Space

Prometheus Capital and IDG Capital Partners announced today that they had invested a combined RMB200 million (US$30 million) in Kr Space, a co-working space spinoff from technology media and entrepreneur service company 36Kr.

Ant Financial-backed 36Kr separated the Kr Space unit into an independent entity in January, and raised an undisclosed series A round from Gobi Partners and others. Prometheus Capital, founded by Wang Sicong, the son of China’s richest man Dalian Wanda Group’s Wang Jianlin, will help Kr Space secure more property and space for expansion. Read more>>

Gaw Capital Sells Osaka Luxury Hotel For $153 Mil

In selling the Hyatt Regency in Osaka, the Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital is understood to have completed the second largest hotel deal in the city in 2016.

Construction giant Obayashi sold the property to Gaw Capital in 2014. Built by the Japanese firm, the 28-story luxury hotel first opened in 1994. But the operations were susceptible to losses owing to Obayashi’s limited know-how in hotel management. Read more>>

APG Partners With Xander To Form $300 Mil Joint Venture In India

In the largest single deal in the retail real estate sector in India, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management and Virtuous Retail VR, sponsored by leading emerging markets investment firm The Xander Group Inc., have partnered to form a joint venture that has acquired an initial portfolio of three retail assets from a Xander sponsored fund in a transaction valued at Rs 2,000 crores ($ 300 million)

APG has invested 77 percent of the equity for a majority shareholding in the joint venture. Xander has invested the balance 23 percent. The two partners will have equal representation on the board of the new company. Read more>>

Chinese Developer Abandons $300M NYC Condo Conversion

Chinese developer CL Investment Group pulled the plug last month on a $300.2 million luxury condo conversion of the United Charities office building at 287 Park Avenue South in the Flatiron District, records show. The company will instead keep the building commercial and will announce a renovation and repositioning plan in the near future.

The now-dropped 40-unit condominium offering plan, first filed with the New York state Attorney General’s office more than a year ago, called for luxury residential apartments averaging somewhere in the neighbourhood of $7 million apiece. A penthouse was expected to list for a whopping $17.5 million, a sum topped by only three apartments currently listed in the Flatiron neighbourhood. Read more>>

Swire Slashes Prices At Lantau Island Project

Swire Properties has relaunched 12 independent houses at its Whitesands project on Lantau Island at deep price discounts of 20-30 percent. The developer said the price cut is principally aimed at grabbing market attention.

Aside from the discount, Swire is also offering tax rebate and other incentives in the batch of units that is currently on offer. Meanwhile, intense competition in the primary home market is continuing, with developers pressing on with offers of secondary mortgage loans to keep sales moving. Read more>>

Chinese Hotel Buyers Are the US’s Newest Debt Borrowers

While Chinese investment into the U.S. economy is certainly not exclusive to hospitality—Asian investment on the whole soared to $47 billion in 2015 from $4.3 billion in 2009, according to CBRE—this year so far, Chinese investors account for 76 percent of overseas capital invested in U.S. hotels, which is already more than double the 32 percent last year. Year-to-date, Chinese investors have deployed $7.7 billion of capital into U.S. hotels, eclipsing the $2.5 billion they invested at the same point 2015, according to data from JLL.

U.S.-based lenders are faced with an entirely new subset of borrowers. And while the Chinese have shown significant interest in investing in the Hiltons, Starwoods and Radisson Hotels, their ability to take out cash to fund those buys or fund new hotel developments isn’t always a walk in the park. Read more>>

China’s Fortune Land Plans Industrial Estate in Malaysia

China Fortune Land Development has indicated interest to develop industry cities in Malaysia. CFLD helped plan and build the Gu’an New Industry City, which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak visited as part of his official trip to China.

CFLD is keen to expand its footprint in the Southeast Asian region and set up its international headquarters in Singapore in June 2016. It will open a Malaysian branch later this month. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.