Goldman Sachs Confirms $1.5B Sale of London HQ and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Korea’s sovereign wealth fund finds itself at the top of today’s property news in the region after the NPS was confirmed as the buyer of Goldman Sachs’ new European headquarters, and HNA saved itself from a cascade of defaults on Monday by making good on an overdue $147 million bond payment. The health of former SHK boss Walter Kwok also brings him back into the headlines, and there are many more stories awaiting you below.

Goldman Sachs Confirms $1.5B Sale of London HQ to Korea’s NPS

Goldman Sachs has sold his new European headquarters, opening next year in London, to South Korea’s National Pension Service for $1.5 billion, the US investment bank has said.

Goldman added in a statement that it would lease back the building, worth $1.165 billion ($1.502 billion, 1.297 billion euros), in a deal lasting up to 25 years. “The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today announced it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale and leaseback of Plumtree Court with Korea’s National Pension Service,” said the statement issued last week. Read more>>

HNA Pays Up on Overdue Bond After “Glitch” Report

Chinese finance-to-aviation conglomerate HNA on Monday paid the Rmb1bn ($147m) principal on a bond after missing the payment on Friday due to what it said was a glitch in the interbank transfer system.

The payment of the bond principal averts the closest call yet for HNA, which delayed or extended debt during a liquidity crisis in the fourth quarter of 2017. It has since sold about $18bn in assets, according to company statements and data from Thomson Reuters. Read more>>

Former SHK Chairman Walter Kwok Hospitalised After Heart Attack

Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, the eldest of the Kwok brothers who run the city’s largest property developer, has been hospitalised after a heart attack, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Kwok, 67, was taken from his residence at Deep Water Bay at around 11.30pm last night for admission into the Ruttonjee Hospital’s intensive care unit, the source said. The former chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties was released from Ruttonjee and is now recovering at the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, where he is said to be in stable condition, the source said. Read more>>

Malaysian Fund Said in Talks to Sell Stake in M+S to Temasek

Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd is believed to be in talks to dispose of its 60 per cent stake in property developer M+S Pte Ltd to its joint-venture (JV) partner, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, sources told The Malaysian Reserve newspaper.

“The deal could give the government a hefty return on investment,” a source told the business daily. Temasek on Thursday (Aug 23) declined to comment on market speculation. Read more>>

Singapore Private Condo Prices Dip in July

Prices of completed non-landed private homes continued to lose momentum in July, declining 0.5 per cent month-on-month after a slower appreciation in June, according to the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) flash estimates for its Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) released on Tuesday.

In June, prices rose 0.7 per cent, down from a positive 1.6 per cent pace in May. The July decline applied across the board. Excluding small units, prices for apartments in the central region eased 0.2 per cent compared to a 0.6 per cent increase the month before. Those outside the central region slipped 0.7 per cent, reversing a 0.8 per cent increase in June. Read more>>

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