Gary Wong, CEO of Wang On Properties
Chinese developers may be snapping up all of Hong Kong’s residential land on the market this year, but one mainland builder under financial pressure is exiting an investment in the city, as it sells a housing site in Ma On Shan that it bought in 2014 to Hong Kong’s Wang On Properties. Also in today’s headlines, Country Garden is bringing in the legendary Jack Nicklaus to design one of the three new golf courses it’s adding to the Forest City project in Malaysia, and ICBC says there’s nothing out of the ordinary going in, amidst news of a regulatory crackdown on several of China’s outbound investment giants. Read on for all these stories and more.
Mainland Builder Sells HK Housing Site to Wang On
China City Construction (International) is forced to sell the waterfront residential site in Ma On Shan that it won in a 2014 government tender after encountering financial difficulties to proceed with construction amid Beijing’s tightened controls on capital outflows.
The sale, considered a rare case in reselling of government land, was confirmed by Wang On Properties on Thursday in a statement saying that it had agreed to take over the site. Read more>>
Country Garden Building 3 Golf Courses in Malaysia’s Forest City
Mega Johor project Forest City will get three new golf courses – one of which will be designed by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus – as part of the second stage of development.
Chinese developer Country Garden Pacificview said it will add 8 sq km to the complex in its next stage, which is estimated to cost about US$280 million (S$390 million).
This additional 8 sq km of land was acquired, and is part of the projected overall development size of Forest City, which is 30 sq km. Read more>>
UOL Share Swap Deal to Restructure Singaporean Property Goliath
UOL Group Limited announced on Friday (June 23) that it will buy Haw Par Corporation’s stake in United Industrial Corporation (UIC), via a share swap.
UOL and Haw Par, the two listed companies largely owned by Singapore billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, said the deal may make UOL one of the largest owners of commercial space in Singapore.
Property investor UOL will sell 27.3 million new shares to investment holding firm Haw Par in exchange for 60 million shares of United Industrial Corp owned by Haw Par’s wholly owned subsidiary, UOL said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange. Read more>>
ICBC Says Scrutiny of Wanda, Fosun and HNA is “Routine”
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said on Friday its checks of loans to companies that made overseas acquisitions is routine, following reports that the regulator had ordered lenders to assess credit extended to a handful of highly acquisitive firms.
In a statement, ICBC (601398.SS)(1398.HK) also said it was not “dumping” bonds issued by companies whose loans it was assessing, an apparent response to market rumors on Thursday. Read more>>
Ascendas-Singbridge to Raise $300M Fund for Indian Office Parks
Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Group plans to raise capital from third-party investors, to invest in office park projects in India, and aims to ramp up its own information technology (IT) office development portfolio, said a top company official.
Ascendas-Singbridge will raise around $300 million from mainly offshore institutional investors as well as commit a certain amount of its own, and manage the fund’s investments. The new fund will look at greenfield and brownfield projects that are in the land stage or have all approvals in place. Read more>>
Retailer Pays Record HK$100,000 PSF for Kwun Tong Shop
Telecom Digital Holdings, which operates a chain of retail outlets for mobile phones in Hong Kong and Macau, has paid HK$30 million for a shop in the dowdy industrial neighbourhood of Kwun Tong, topping the market price in the city’s glitzy Causeway Bay shopping district.
The 301 square foot shop at the Kwun Tong Plaza sold for HK$100,000 per square foot, according to a Thursday press release, a record that’s double the current commercial property price in Causeway Bay. The seller made a 130 per cent return from an initial purchase made in 2011, said Celeste Liu Ching-ping, manager of Sheraton Valuers, the agent for the transaction. Read more>>
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