Developer razes historic Guangzhou homes — Today’s China Real Estate Links | June 17, 2013

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Developer razes historic Guangzhou homes — builds a scandal

  Historic 1940s houses in Guangzhou which were once home to Chinese celebrities, were pulled down early on Tuesday by local real estate  developer Cuihua despite a government order last year to halt demolition.

  The garden houses, which were built by a Hong Kong company in the 1940s on Miaogaotai, Jinlingtai and Shishu roads were home to Chinese celebrities and high-ranking officials. They featured Italian building materials and sandalwood furniture.

  The demolition began at 11pm on Monday night and was completed by early Tuesday morning, waking up people living in the vicinity, local New Express Daily reported yesterday.

• Developer Poly plans new bond issue

  Poly Real Estate Group, China’s second-biggest developer by market value, announced plans on Friday to issue its first US dollar bond, braving a period of intense volatility in the global capital markets. A new issue would reopen the international debt markets for Asia after only one US dollar bond has priced in the region since May 22.

  Poly Real Estate hired banks to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings in Hong Kong, Singapore and London starting on June 17, becoming potentially the first Asian issuer to launch a dollar deal since China Huaneng Group priced a US$400m five-year on June 4.

• Fund Manager PAG to invest in China’s Zall Development

  Asian alternative investment fund manager PAG will make a strategic investment in China’s Zall Development Group to enhance its capital base and liquidity and facilitate its future development.  The group is a developer and operator of large-scale, consumer product-focussed wholesale shopping malls and commercial properties.

  The investment will be in the form of convertible bonds. Under the agreement, PAG will subscribe about US$100 million of firm bonds and may subscribe up to US$50 million of option bonds via its Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund L.P with the interest rate of 5.5% per annum and the maturity date in June 2018.

• China’s power consumption growth slows in May

  China’s electricity consumption rose 5 percent year on year to 426.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in May, slowing from the 6.8-percent increase seen in April, according to newly issued data.

  In the first five months, consumption increased 4.9 percent from the same period last year, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in an online statement.

  Electricity consumption in the service industry saw rapid growth of 9.1 percent during the January-May period, followed by 4.7 percent in the secondary industry and 1.1 percent in the primary industry. Residential power use climbed 2.8 percent.

  This list is updated daily, so tune in again tomorrow for more up to date information.