Seoul Office Tower Set to Sell for $472M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A local beauty store giant reportedly outbids global investor BentallGreenOak for a central Seoul office tower, with that story leading today’s headline roundup. Also making the list, Guangzhou R&F sells a Melbourne residential site and Sino-Ocean wins court approval for its debt workout.

BGO Said Outbid in $472M Seoul Office Sale 

CJ Olive Young Corp, South Korea’s top beauty store chain, has been given priority rights to buy an office building in Seoul for KRW 680 billion ($472 million), beating other bidders including global real estate investor BentallGreenOak, investment banking sources said Wednesday.

KB Asset Management, which put KDB Life Tower on the market, and the managers of the sale — NAI Korea and Colliers Korea — selected CJ Olive Young as the preferred bidder for the building near Seoul railway station, according to the sources. Read more>>

Guangzhou R&F Sells Suburban Melbourne Site for Reported $25M

Guangzhou R&F has sold a 3 hectare (7.4 acre) Melbourne residential site, according to a statement by Cushman & Wakefield this week, as Chinese developers continue to sell down their Australian holdings.

The Hong Kong-listed builder sold the plot at 124-180 Ballarat Road in Melbourne’s Footscray, an approved development plan already in place, for a price said to be in the vicinity of A$40 million ($25.5 million). The buyer, which was not specified, is in line to build more than 1,200 homes on the plot. Read more>>

Sino-Ocean Wins Hong Kong Court Approval for $6B Debt Workout

Sino-Ocean Group has taken another big step to resolve its liquidity crisis after a Hong Kong court approved its $6 billion debt workout plan, joining a handful of mainland Chinese developers that have managed to stave off hostile offshore creditors.

The High Court gave its nod to the state-backed company’s plan to settle its overdue debt involving several tranches of loans governed by Hong Kong law, according to a judgment on Wednesday. No creditors or lenders opposed the workout plan during the hearing. Read more>>

Hong Kong Banks Face Rising Risks From Property Slump

Hong Kong banks are likely to be more selective in extending credit to developers amid a prolonged property slump that could pose a “major risk” to lenders, according to Moody’s Ratings.

Banks’ property development and investment loans accounted for 16 percent of their total lending as of June, the rating agency said Wednesday. Read more>>

Japan’s Daiwa House Expands US Housing Bets

Japanese homebuilder Daiwa House Industry is working to diversify its US business, following the company’s model for Japan by branching out from single-family homes to rental housing, logistics facilities and hotels.

On Tuesday, Daiwa House heads from Japan and the US, including president Keiichi Yoshii, gathered in Florida. Attending from the American side was Steve Alloy of homebuilder Stanley Martin, of which Yoshii led the acquisition in 2017. Read more>>

Experts Pan Initial Plan to Boost Singapore Exchange

Market observers have taken to LinkedIn to voice their concerns over the first set of proposals submitted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s equities market review group, which includes helping local mid-sized companies access growth capital and introducing tax incentives to attract companies and fund managers to list in the city-state.

The initial set of measures, which MAS announced on 13 February, have been submitted to Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. More details will be released Friday. Read more>>

Hong Kong Developers Push Discounted Projects as Home Sales Recover

Hong Kong’s developers are putting more new projects on the market at discounted prices, as they take advantage of warming sentiment in the city’s tepid real estate market amid a massive supply glut.

Henderson Land has offered to sell the first 63 units of 313 flats at its Eight Southpark project in Kowloon City at an average price of HK$17,388 ($2,235) per square foot, the developer said Wednesday. The sale price of the 27-storey project at 8 Nam Pok Road is about 10 percent cheaper than comparable properties in the same neighbourhood and in Kai Tak, agents said. Read more>>

Goodman Sells Out Data Centre-Linked Equity Placement in One Hour

Veteran property investor Greg Goodman is replaying the strategy that turned his small commercial property trust into a A$70 billion ($44.5 billion) industrial powerhouse.

In little over an hour, Goodman had used his near record-high share price to raise A$4 billion from existing investors through a pro rata placement. This is almost the entire market value of Lendlease, and affected property operators as investors liquidated their holdings to boost their exposure to Goodman. 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.