China Taiping Said to Be Buyer of $1.3B HK Tower and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Do borders even exist for real estate investors anymore? That’s the question on Mingtiandi’s mind as a report reveals China Taiping insurance as the buyer of Henderson Land’s project in Hong Kong’s North Point, and HK developer K Wah finalises its A$190 million purchase of a Sydney office block. Plus, a wave of proptech startups may break down still more barriers, but only if you keep reading.

China Taiping Said to Be Buyer of $1.3B Hong Kong Tower

A unit of state-owned China Taiping Insurance Group is in advanced talks to acquire a newly built office tower in Hong Kong from Henderson Land Development Co., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China Taiping is negotiating to buy the building at 18 King Wah Road in North Point, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. It’s not clear which unit of the Chinese insurer is buying the tower. The building is valued at about HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion), according to one of the people. Read more>>

K Wah Finalises A$190M Sydney Office Deal at Sub-4% Yield

More records are set to be broken in the commercial property market with multinational conglomerate K. Wah Group finalising its first property deal in Australia, buying US financial services giant TIAA’s TH Real Estate office building in Sydney on a sub 4 per cent yield.

A deal to buy the 16-level, A-grade office tower at 20 Hunter Street is understood to have exchanged at a price of more than $190 million well ahead of initial expectations of about $170 million. Read more>>

Link REIT Distributable Income Rises 7.2%

Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Link Reit) said its total distributable income climbed 7.2 per cent to HK$2.6 billion in the six months to September, boosted by strong rental income from shops and car parks.

Hong Kong’s first property investment trust, the largest in Asia by capitalisation, reported half-year net property income of HK$3.76 billion (US$481.99 million), up 9.5 per cent from a year ago. Read more>>

Asia Leads Global Proptech Wave Says JLL

Asia has a commanding role in the emerging sector of property technology or “proptech”, the application of technology to solve challenges in the real estate sector, according to a survey.

Within Asia-Pacific, start-ups with a proptech tie in have outpaced their counterparts in Europe and the United States, having raised US$4.8 billion in funding among 179 companies since 2013, according to research by international property consultant JLL Greater China. Read more>>

Lotte Mainland Project Back on Track as Dispute Cools

Lotte Corp said on Monday that a major property development in China had received approval from local authorities to start a second phase of construction – the latest sign that tension between Beijing and Seoul is easing.
The announcement comes one week after an unexpected detente between the two countries which have been at odds over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea – a dispute that has battered South Korean businesses that rely on Chinese consumers. Read more>>

HNA Plans Sell and Buy-Back of Spanish Hotel Shares

China’s heavily indebted airline-to-property conglomerate HNA Group has agreed a sale and repurchase deal on some of its shares in Spain’s NH Hotel Group to raise cash for internal financing.

HNA, which has taken on billions in debt to fund a $50 billion acquisition spree in the last two years, faced rising funding costs in recent weeks as investors worry about its financial health. Read more>>

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