Events in Australia, India and Japan command top coverage in Asia’s real estate industry today with US fund manager AEW adding a Melbourne office tower to its portfolio down under, while warehouse giant ESR takes on another Tokyo area project in the run-up to its IPO. The Japan market appears to be an area of particular interest for JLL, whose global head of investment services just relocated to Tokyo and in India a TPG-backed developer takes another step toward an IPO. All these stories and more are in today’s roundup.
AEW Buys Melbourne Office Tower From Challenger for A$200M
US investment manager AEW Capital has added to its Australian holdings with the A$200 million purchase of a major office tower on Melbourne’s Queen Street.
The Boston-headquartered AEW acquired the 27-storey tower at 31 Queen Street off-market on a sub-5 per cent yield. The vendor, financial services giant Challenger, is reducing its real estate asset allocation as part of a strategic decision to shift into fixed-income investment. Read more>>
JLL Global Capital Markets Chief Relocates to Japan
JLL Japan welcomes two senior executives to its Capital Markets team, as part of the firm’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its capital markets team globally and grow market share in Japan.
Arthur de Haast, Chairman of JLL’s Global Capital Markets Board, relocates from the U.K., while Kenichi Negishi takes over as the Head of Capital Markets, JLL Japan. Both are based in Tokyo, and will work together to achieve investment objectives for international and domestic clients. Read more>>
ESR Unveils Plans for $314M Tokyo Area Project
Pan-Asian logistics group ESR is investing about US$314m (€279m) to develop a new large-scale, multi-tenant logistics facility near Tokyo.
ESR said the new 86,400 square metre property was located adjacent to the boundary between Tokyo and Saitama in Greater Tokyo, which is home to some 30% of Japan’s total population. Read more>>
TPG-Backed Indian Developer Shriram on Way to IPO
Chennai-based real estate developer Shriram Properties Ltd, which counts TPG Capital, Tata Capital, and Walton Street Capital as its private equity (PE) investors, has received a regulatory nod to float an initial public offering (IPO).
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued final observations to Shriram Properties’ IPO on 9 April, according to information made available on the capital market regulator’s website. Read more>>
Singapore Private Home Sales Grew 47% in March Compared to 2018
Developers in Singapore sold 1,054 private homes in March, up from the 455 units they moved in February, and 47 per cent higher than the 716 units they sold in the corresponding month a year ago.
This came as 1,812 private homes were launched in March, of which 170 were in the core central region (CCR), 576 were in the rest of the central region (RCR) and 1,066 were outside the central region (OCR). Sales in February this year were lower due to the Chinese New Year festive lull and the absence of new launches. Read more>>
Liquidity Surge Unlikely to Boost Asset Values Says UBS
The pause in US Federal Reserve interest rate increases is unlikely to boost commercial property prices in Asia-Pacific, according to a new report from UBS.
Citing historically low rental yields, driven in part by high pricing, the report noted that in Asia-Pacific cities outside Australia, the “marginal benefit from an extended period of low interest rates is very limited”. Read more>>
Bahrain’s Investcorp Raising $7B for Asian, Arab Deals
Investcorp, the Bahrain-based company which counts Mubadala Investment Company as its biggest shareholder, is looking to raise in excess of $7 billion (Dh25.7bn) this year for acquisitions in the Arabian Gulf and Asia, its co-chief executive said.
“Last year we raised north of $7bn [and] our fundraising plans will be building upon that recent trajectory,” Rishi Kapoor, told The National. “That’s the baseline and we would like to grow from that.” Read more>>
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