
Kenedix chairman and CEO Taisuke Miyajima is in the hunt for Sapporo properties
The value of prime Tokyo real estate leads today’s review of headlines from around Asia, as Japan’s Sapporo Holdings is said to have abandoned talks with PAG and KKR in favour of potentially more lucrative discussions with Lone Star and SMFL. Also making the news, Gaw Capital fails to pay banks for a Shanghai office tower and a Japanese hotel operator takes control of a regional lender.
Japan’s Sapporo Said in Talks With Lone Star as PAG, KKR Deal Fizzles
Sapporo Holdings has called it quits on plans to sell its real estate business to investment companies KKR and PAG, Nikkei learned Thursday, with the parties said to have failed to reach agreement on pricing.
The Japanese brewer is now said to be in talks with US fund manager Lone Star and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing’s Kenedix unit for the sale of properties including the Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo’s Ebisu district. Read more>>
Gaw Capital Said to Default on $260M Loan on Shanghai Office Complex
A fund led by private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners failed to repay a $260 million loan tied to a Shanghai office tower that was due this week, according to people familiar with the matter, in a fresh sign of rising default risks in China’s battered real estate market.
Missing the deadline means creditor banks could declare a default on the loan, but that decision may take more time. Lenders could also still agree to extend the loan. The loan included two parts, an onshore portion that was due Tuesday and an offshore tranche that matured Wednesday, one of the people said. Read more>>
Japanese Hotel Group Becomes Top Shareholder in Bank of Toyama
Japanese hotel operator Plan Do See is taking a stake in regional lender Bank of Toyama to become its biggest shareholder and collaborate in the hospitality business in the area.
Under the deal, the unlisted company is acquiring as much as 5 percent of the Toyama prefecture-based bank, the lender said Thursday in a stock filing. Read more>>
Lendlease Commercial REIT Completes $359M Sale of Jem Office Tower
Lendlease Global Commercial REIT said this week that it has completed its sale of the office component of the Jem commercial complex in Singapore’s Jurong East area to Keppel Ltd.
The SGX-listed REIT had announced the S$462 million ($358.5 million) deal in August, marking the divestment of its ownership in the 311,217 square foot (28,913 square metre) asset. Read more>>
Blackstone-Backed AirTrunk Targeting India Expansion
AirTrunk, the Australian data centre operator bought by Blackstone last year in a A$24 billion ($16 billion) deal, will build its next facility in India to help meet overwhelming demand in the sector, said founder and CEO Robin Khuda.
Investors are pouring billions of dollars into artificial intelligence services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the data centres required to power them. AirTrunk in August closed a A$16 billion refinancing to build or keep operating data centres in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Read more>>
Perennial Sale of Singapore Site Follows Permitting Frustrations
Palm oil billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong and a developer he controls are among owners seeking to unload a vacant site in Singapore meant for luxury mansions after facing setbacks in their building plans.
The sellers are seeking more than S$350 million ($268 million) for the plot in the Caldecott Hill enclave, according to a statement Wednesday from Savills, which is open to offers from interested buyers until mid-January with another broker, Delasa. Read more>>
SGX-Listed EC World REIT Struggling to Undo Illicit Mortgages of Mainland Assets
The manager of SGX-listed EC World REIT said this week that it has appealed a ruling by the People’s Court of Fuyang District, Hangzhou, made in April this year after the court dismissed the REIT’s application to invalidate the mortgage contracts concerning Fuzhou E-Commerce.
Fuzhou E-Commerce is one of the three properties owned by EC World REIT that were mortgaged without its consent or knowledge between 20 November 2023 and 24 November 2023. These unauthorised mortgages were created in favour of two entities linked to the Fuyang government in China, according to a bourse filing dated 1 September 2024. Read more>>
China’s Country Garden Said Planning $13B in Convertible Bonds
Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings is planning to issue as much as $13 billion in mandatory convertible bonds, as it moves ahead with one of the nation’s biggest-ever restructurings amid a real estate crisis that sparked record defaults.
The builder is also proposing to issue new shares to pay work fees owed to certain creditors, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing Friday. Once China’s biggest home seller by sales, Country Garden received creditor support last week for its offshore restructuring plan that could cut debt by more than $11 billion if successful. Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on X, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
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