HK Investor Buys Melbourne Mall From M&G and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, a Hong Kong outfit buys an Australian shopping mall from M&G, a Sichuan-based developer becomes China’s latest debt debacle, and Singapore state holding firm Temasek reports a nearly 25 percent return in the century’s hardest year yet.

Hong Kong Investor Buys Melbourne Mall From M&G for $168M

Haben Property Fund, partnered by Hong Kong investor JY Group, has acquired the Casey Central shopping mall in Melbourne’s south for $225 million ($168 million), making it the state’s largest such sub-regional shopping centre transaction in five years.

The deal was struck on a yield of around 5.4 percent, a relatively tight metric that will be closely noted in a market where sub-regional malls have been considered to be most vulnerable to the rise of e-commerce. Read more>>

China Developer Defaults Spread as Sichuan Builder Misses Payment

Chinese builder Sichuan Languang Development Co failed to repay a local bond, marking its first default in a domestic credit market grappling with rising debt failures.

The company was not able to raise enough funds for the repayment on a RMB 900 million ($139 million) local bond that matured Sunday, which amounts to a default, according to a Monday statement from Languang to the Shanghai Clearing House. The builder said last week that it might not be able to make the payment. Read more>>

Temasek Posts 24.5% One-Year Return After Record Dealmaking

A record year for both investments and sales, coupled with some blockbuster listings of names like Airbnb and Doordash, pushed Temasek Holdings’ one-year total shareholder return to 24.5 percent for the 12 months ended 31 March.

In its annual review released on Tuesday, Temasek reported that its net portfolio value grew to S$381 billion ($281 billion) from S$306 billion in the previous fiscal year on a Sing-dollar conversion basis. Read more>>

Temasek Shuns Hard Carbon Targets in Divestment Decisions

Singapore state investor Temasek does not set hard carbon targets that its portfolio companies must meet to avoid divestment.

As the group doubles down on fresh climate-aligned opportunities, it will, at the same time, work with existing portfolio companies on their decarbonisation journey, said Nagi Hamiyeh, Temasek International’s investment group joint head and head of portfolio development. Read more>>

Kolkata’s KCT Buys Century-Old HSBC Building in South Mumbai

Kolkata-based KCT Group has bought an 108-year-old prime commercial building owned by HSBC at Horniman Circle in South Mumbai’s Fort locality for over INR 83 crore ($11 million), two people with direct knowledge of the development said.

The transaction assumes significance as South Mumbai has not seen a large independent commercial building sale on an outright basis for a long time. Read more>>

Adani Group Takes Over Management of Mumbai Airport

Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned unit of Adani Enterprises Ltd, on Tuesday took over the management control of Mumbai International Airport Ltd from GVK Group.

This followed approvals from the Union government as well as the government of Maharashtra, and Maharashtra’s City and Industrial Development Corporation. Read more>>

Hong Kong Homes on the Way to Price Record, Says JP Morgan

Emigration has had little effect on Hong Kong’s property market and home prices are on course to set a record in a month or two’s time, says US investment bank JP Morgan.

“The chances of breaking the record are very high, because (home prices are) just 1 percent to 2 percent from their peak,” said Cusson Leung, head of Asia property research at JP Morgan. Leung also said he expected prices to rise 5 percent to 10 percent this year. Read more>>

China Hotels Lure Investors Seeking Rebound Returns

Investors are snapping up more hotels and service apartments in mainland China, betting on a rebound in tourism as the government pushes for faster vaccination and wider reopening of the economy.

The value of hotel transactions amounted to $1.3 billion in the first six months this year, a 54 percent jump from the same period a year earlier, when the COVID-19 pandemic froze appetite for deals, according to JLL. China led activity in Asia-Pacific, along with Japan and South Korea, the agency said. Read more>>

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