Cromwell Property Group chairman Gary Weiss
Hong Kong-listed ESR moves to pare its long-held stake in Australia’s Cromwell Property Group, with that stock sale leading today’s headline roundup. Also in the news, Lendlease courts Mitsubishi Estate for a Sydney redevelopment venture and a Singapore-backed operator of Aussie retirement villages plans an ASX IPO.
ESR Cutting Stake in Australia’s Cromwell Through Discounted Block Trade
Industrial property player ESR launched a A$93 million ($60 million) block trade for a portion of its 31 percent stake in ASX-listed Cromwell Property Group on Wednesday after the market close.
Investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgans Financial were helping the group offload 282.8 million securities at a fixed price of A$0.33 per share — a 13.2 percent discount to the last closing price. After the trade, ESR will hold 19.9 percent of Cromwell’s stock. ESR had first mentioned a potential sale of its Cromwell stake in 2023. Read more>>
Lendlease Said Enlisting Mitsubishi Estate to Buy Sydney Tower From Shimao Boss
Aussie developer Lendlease is courting Japanese heavyweight Mitsubishi Estate Asia to back its tilt at buying 175 Liverpool Street, an office tower near Sydney’s Hyde Park that is currently owned by cash-strapped mainland real estate tycoon Hui Wing Mau.
With an eye to redeveloping the tower into a A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) condo project, Lendlease is seeking a fresh partnership with Mitsubishi Estate to purchase the tower from the controlling shareholder of Hong Kong-listed Shimao Group. Read more>>
Singapore-Backed Operator of Aussie Retirement Villages Eyes $1.3B IPO
GemLife, a land lease community operator owned by Queensland’s Puljich family and Singapore’s Thakral Capital, this week told fund managers to think about a A$700-million-plus raising at a circa A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) valuation that could launch in the coming weeks.
GemLife’s bankers — namely JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Highbury Partnership — took about two dozen fund managers through four sites in Queensland on Monday and Tuesday, ahead of a non-deal roadshow planned for Asia next week, sources said. Read more>>
PGIM Gets Closer to NPS With Opening of Second Korea Office
PGIM announced earlier this month that it has opened an office in the home city of South Korea’s National Pension Service as its second location in the country.
In a statement, the investment management business of Prudential Financial tied the Jeonju office to its longstanding relationship with NPS, which, as the world’s third-largest pension fund, manages over $800 billion in assets. Read more>>
Brookfield Investing in $1B UAE Property Joint Venture
Brookfield is partnering with Abu Dhabi-based asset manager Lunate on a $1 billion joint venture to invest in residential real estate in the Middle East, which is home to some of the world’s hottest property markets.
The new venture will focus on investing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the UAE finance hubs where property values have surged in recent years. Lunate will commit a significant cornerstone investment, according to a statement on Tuesday. Read more>>
Salter Brothers Signs Up IHG to Manage More Australian Hotels
British hotelier IHG Hotels & Resorts will open luxury InterContinental properties in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney and reintroduce its Regent brand to Australia after a two-decade absence in a major shake-up of the industry.
The company announced plans to rebrand a number of its lower-tier Crowne Plaza Hotels as part of a deal with Salter Brothers, the local fund manager that owns the properties and is preparing to float a A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) portfolio of accommodation assets on the ASX within 18 months. Read more>>
Australia’s Dexus Under Pressure to Sell Airport Stakes
Property group Dexus could be forced to sell its entire stake in Melbourne and Launceston airports due to a conflict with its heavyweight co-investors prompted by its attempts to sell off a near 10 percent interest in the company that owns them.
The listed company runs funds that own about 27 percent of Australia Pacific Airports Corporation — the owner of both facilities — and its interest is worth about A$4 billion ($2.6 billion). The scene is now set for a legal battle that would pitch the company against co-owners IFM Investors, the Future Fund, SAS Trustee (represented by NSW TCorp) and the Utilities of Australia vehicle managed by HRL Morrison and Co. Read more>>
Vietnam’s Novaland Proposes to Convert Debt Into New Shares
Vietnamese developer Novaland plans to issue additional shares to convert debt into shares for some major shareholders who have lent to the company in times of financial woe.
According to Novaland, its board of directors plans to seek an AGM approval to implement an issuance of shares for debt conversion. Specifically, Novaland will issue shares to swap debts for some major shareholders who sold collateral to repay the company’s debts in loans and bonds. Read more>>
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