GIC Investing $256M in Aussie Apartment Venture and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, sovereign investor GIC reportedly lends financial muscle to a build-to-sell residential venture in Australia, an IMF official sees a long road ahead for China’s property crisis, and Singapore’s Keppel Land sells its stake in a Shanghai real estate firm.

GIC Investing A$400M in Aussie Condo Development Venture

Luxury developer Tim Gurner has secured A$400 million ($256.7 million) in investment capital from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC to supercharge the expansion of his apartment business and put it on an “even playing field” with the big listed players.

The investment from a “global institutional investor” — which Gurner did not name, but is understood to be GIC — will fund the development of a A$1.75 billion pipeline of build-to-sell projects with a particular focus on opportunities in Sydney. Read more>>

Amazon’s AWS Buys Mumbai Area Data Centre Site

Amazon Web Services has acquired 60 acres of land in Thane district, near Mumbai, for over INR 1,800 crore ($218 million), sources in the know told Moneycontrol. The seller is Ananta Landmarks, an arm of Kalpataru, they said. The deal was registered on October 21.

The land parcel, located at Balkum Pada in the Majiwada area, is expected to be utilised for setting up a data centre facility. This is prime land located in Thane city and surrounded by residential complexes, malls and close to Bhiwandi Road, they said. Read more>>

IMF Sees No Quick Resolution of China Real Estate Woes

The International Monetary Fund does not see a speedy resolution to China’s real estate problems, an official said Friday.

“We don’t see a quick resolution” of the real estate sector problems, said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia Pacific department, adding that the issue “needs to be addressed in a comprehensive way”. Read more>>

Keppel Land Exiting Shanghai Jinju Real Estate Development for $133M

Keppel Corporation announced Wednesday that its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Land is divesting 100 percent of its equity interest in Shanghai Jinju Real Estate Development.

The RMB 967 million ($133 million) deal is between Keppel Land subsidiary Shanghai Maowei Investment Consulting and Shanghai Dongyuan Real Estate Development, which will be buying out Keppel Land’s stake. Read more>>

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust’s H1 DPU Up 12.5%

SGX-listed Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust posted a distribution per unit of 4.94 Singapore cents ($0.04) in the first half of its fiscal year ending 30 September, a 12.5 percent increase from a year earlier.

The rise in DPU was driven by a contribution from properties under Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust, which Mapletree Commercial Trust acquired through a merger. Read more>>

Starhill Global REIT’s Net Property Income Up 8.4% in Q1

Singapore-listed Starhill Global REIT’s net property income rose 8.4 percent year-on-year to S$37.2 million (now $26.3 million) in its first fiscal quarter ended 30 September.

Gross revenue was S$47.6 million, up 6.2 percent from a year earlier. Read more>>

Singapore Central Region Retail Rents Down 0.4% in Q3

Higher inflation, manpower shortages and recession concerns will continue to weigh on Singapore’s retail market, but the sector appears to be on its way to recovery, supported by a tight supply pipeline.

Rents of retail spaces in Singapore’s central region fell for the third quarter in a row this year. Third-quarter rents slipped 0.4 percent from the previous three-month period, marginally better than the second quarter’s 0.5 percent decline, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said Friday. Read more>>

Chinese Developer Goes on Trial in Los Angeles City Hall Bribery Scandal

A Chinese developer went on trial over allegations that it bribed former Los Angeles city council member Jose Huizar in exchange for his help with a planned mega development in downtown L.A.

Shen Zhen New World I LLC, a US business entity owned by Chinese billionaire Wei Huang, is the second defendant to be tried in the sprawling corruption scandal involving Huizar, who the government says misused his power on the city council and as chair of the city’s influential Planning and Land Use Management Committee to solicit payoffs from developers that sought approval for projects in Huizar’s downtown district. Read more>>

SM Prime Now Has 81 Malls Across the Philippines

SM Prime Holdings is banking on the further recovery of mall traffic with the opening of its 81st domestic shopping mall, the SM City Sorsogon, on Friday.

The Philippine property giant is boosting its mall footprint in the Bicol region, where SM Prime operates three other shopping centres: SM City Naga, SM City Legazpi and SM City Daet. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.