Mapletree Business City in Singapore
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore real estate major Mapletree is reportedly consulting with various banks on an IPO for a student housing REIT, Hong Kong’s Wharf REIC predicts continued hard times after an annual profit drop, and Chinese developers Country Garden and Midea secure financing for M&A activity.
Mapletree Said Picking Banks for $1B Singapore REIT IPO
Singapore’s Mapletree Investments has selected advisers for a potential initial public offering of a student housing REIT that could raise about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, which is owned by state holding firm Temasek, is working with DBS, HSBC, OCBC and UBS on the planned share sale in Singapore, the people said. An IPO could take place as soon as the second half of the year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
Hong Kong’s Wharf REIC Reports 13% Profit Drop, Predicts Hard Times
Wharf Real Estate Investment Co, which owns the Harbour City and Times Square shopping centres in Hong Kong, said it expected business to be difficult amid Hong Kong’s most serious COVID-19 outbreak yet.
Footfall at shopping centres suffered a big drop in the first two months of this year, while downward pressure on office rents will continue unless the economy recovers, said Stephen Ng, Wharf REIC’s chairman and managing director. Read more>>
Developers Country Garden, Midea Secure $3.3B for M&A
Chinese property developers Country Garden and Midea Real Estate secured separate merger and acquisition financing facilities worth RMB 21 billion ($3.3 billion) in total, sending their shares sharply higher in Hong Kong.
The financing accords, both with state-backed China Merchants Bank, come as Beijing steps up efforts to stabilise and tighten control over the property sector, accounting for a quarter of China’s economy, which has been roiled by the debt crisis at heavyweight developer Evergrande. Read more>>
Mandarin Oriental Trims Full-Year Loss to $141.4M
Hotelier Mandarin Oriental International narrowed its net loss for fiscal 2021 to $141.4 million from $680.1 million the year before.
Revenue rose 72.5 percent to $316 million after the relaxation of travel restrictions in most parts of the world in the second half of 2021, but the group cautioned that travel restrictions in most of East Asia remained in place throughout the year. Read more>>
China Commercial Paper Delinquencies Double in Feb
The number of Chinese companies “consistently overdue” on commercial paper payments more than doubled in February from a month earlier as the Chinese property sector continued to struggle with a liquidity crisis.
A total of 1,184 companies were overdue on at least three commercial paper payments in the six-month period from 1 September 2021 to 28 February 2022, or had overdue payments in February, according to a list published on the website of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange. Read more>>
Pricey Singapore Rents Rose 9.9% in 2021 4Q
Home rents have risen to a seven-year high in Singapore, already one of the world’s most expensive cities, even though the city-state’s population has dipped in the past two years.
The rental price index of private residential properties increased to 114.2 in the fourth quarter of 2021, up 9.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Singapore government data, as demand outstrips supply that has been hit by construction delays because of COVID-19 curbs. Read more>>
Failed Chinese Canary Wharf District Put Up for Sale in London
The first phase of the stalled Royal Albert Dock project — once billed as a new business district akin to Canary Wharf — has been put up for sale after the Chinese developer that owned the site collapsed.
Real estate broker Savills is marketing six of the buildings at the unfinished development, according to a brochure sent to clients this week and seen by Bloomberg News. Once completed, the site would offer a total of 4.7 million square feet (437,000 square metres) of mixed-use accommodation, the document said. Read more>>
Swire Seeks Approval for 80-Storey Miami Supertall
Swire Properties has once again submitted an application to the Federal Aviation Administration to build the 80-storey One Brickell City Centre supertall tower.
According to the application, One Brickell City Centre is planned to rise 1,040 feet (317 metres) above ground, or 1,049 feet above sea level. Read more>>
Sunac Asks Investors for New Put Option for $633M Bond
Property developer Sunac China said Thursday that it would hold a meeting next week with investors to approve an additional sell-back date next year for a RMB 4 billion ($633.08 million) puttable bond, which analysts said could ease some liquidity pressure for the firm.
China’s third-largest developer by sales proposed to give investors the option to sell back the onshore bond due in 2024 next year, on top of the existing option to sell back this year on 1 April, it said in a filing. Read more>>
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