Google Bets on JD.com with $550M Retail Deal and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Leading today’s roundup, Google is ramping up its retail investments in China as it aims to counter internet behemoth Alibaba, by ploughing over half a billion dollars into e-commerce titan JD.com. Also in the headlines, China’s home prices and property investment continued to flatline in May as regulators kept a tight leash on the sector. Singapore’s Keppel Corporation is selling off a township in northeastern China, while South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund is boosting its position in global property brokerage CBRE, so keep reading for the skinny.

Google to Invest $550M in E-Commerce Giant JD.com

Tech giant Google said Monday it will invest more than half a billion dollars in China’s second-largest e-commerce player, JD.com. As part of a strategic partnership, Google will put $550 million in cash into JD.com, the companies said in a statement. In return, Google will receive more than 27 million newly issued JD.com Class A ordinary shares at an issue price of $20.29 per share.

The two tech companies said they would work together to develop retail infrastructure that can better personalize the shopping experience and reduce friction in a number of markets, including Southeast Asia. Read more>>

Home Prices, Property Investment Cool in China

Home prices in major Chinese cities largely remained stable in May as local governments toughened up restrictions to prevent speculation, official data showed Friday. On a yearly basis, new residential housing prices in four first-tier cities declined 0.6 percent from a year ago last month, the fourth straight decline, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement. Prices of existing homes dropped for three consecutive months at 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, home prices in 35 third-tier cities were cooler. There was a slowdown in price growth for four months in a row in new houses, and for 10 months in existing ones. Apart from tame price changes, property development investment has also cooled down, expanding 10.2 percent year on year in the first five months of this year, slightly slower than 10.3 percent in the January-April period. Read more>>

Keppel Sells Shenyang Township for $152M

Keppel Corporation expects to gain S$43 million ($32 million) from the sale of its whole stake in Keppel Township Development (Shenyang) Co Ltd (KTDS) to Shenyang SUNAC Xinxing Enterprise Management for $205 million ($152 million).

According to an announcement, KTDS owns and develops a residential township project in Shenbei New District in Shenyang City, China. The sale is in line with Keppel Land’s strategy to recycle assets to seek higher returns and rebalance its portfolio to focus on selected high-growth cities in China, Keppel said. Completion of the divestment is expected to take place by June 2018. Read more>>

CapitaLand to Manage Pair of Malls in Guangzhou, Chengdu

Property group CapitaLand has clinched two new mall management contracts in the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chengdu. The group said before Tuesday’s trading hours that its shopping mall business, CapitaLand Retail, will manage the retail component of The Grand City, a landmark integrated development in Wanbo CBD in Panyu District, on behalf of Guangzhou Wan Shun Investment Management Co Ltd. On winning this contract, CapitaLand is adding a third mall in Guangzhou.

Separately, Chengdu Lide Commercial Industrial Co has appointed CapitaLand to manage an open-lane, low-rise shopping mall in Qingyang District. This mall is less than two kilometres from the iconic Tianfu Square in Chengdu’s city centre. This latest addition is CapitaLand’s seventh mall in Chengdu. Read more>>

Korea Investment Corp Invests $8.93M in CBRE Group

Korea Investment Corp bought a new position in CBRE Group Inc in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 189,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,930,000. Korea Investment Corp owned approximately 0.06% of CBRE Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBRE. ClariVest Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CBRE Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Signaturefd LLC bought a new stake in CBRE Group in the first quarter worth $143,000. Read more>>

Chinese Outbound Shopping Spree Still Going Strong

Fears about Chinese buyers losing their appetite for global commercial real estate investments may have been overdone, according to Real Capital Analytics (RCA). In the first quarter of 2018, Chinese investors bought $12.5 billion more income-producing properties than they sold. With very little selling from Chinese investors, the most recent activity was dominated by the $11.6 billion GLP buyout by a joint venture of several Chinese players.

Beijing’s introduction of stricter rules on outbound capital had caused worries that Chinese investors would retreat from the global commercial real estate scene. Cumulatively, their net cross-border investments have surpassed $124 billion since the Global Financial Crisis. Read more>>

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