Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman
E-commerce titan Amazon plans its biggest-ever Australia investment to expand data centre infrastructure, with that announcement leading today’s headline roundup. Also in the news, Hong Kong’s New World Development makes a dollar bond payment as the controlling Cheng family raises more than $1 billion from convertible debt.
Amazon Targets $13B for Australia Data Centre Infrastructure Over 5 Years
Amazon will invest A$20 billion ($13 billion) from 2025 to 2029 to expand, operate and maintain its data centre infrastructure in Australia, bolstering the nation’s artificial intelligence capabilities, the company said in a blog post Saturday.
The investment is Amazon’s largest global technology commitment in Australia, with funding directed towards new server capacity and support for generative AI workloads. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s New World Makes Interest Payment on Dollar Bonds
New World Development has paid interest due on a dollar note, according to several bondholders, giving the indebted Hong Kong builder some breathing room as it works to complete an HK$87.5 billion ($11.1 billion) loan refinancing deal.
The company owed $5.05 million in interest by Monday on the 5.875 percent bond, according to Bloomberg calculations. Investors were closely monitoring the deadline after the builder recently decided to use an option to defer coupon payments on four perpetual notes. The interest due this week, however, was on a regular bond that didn’t carry such an option to push back payments. Read more>>
Cheng Family’s Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Upsizes Convertible Bond Sale to $1.1B
Henry Cheng’s Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group has raised HK$8.8 billion ($1.1 billion) from a larger-than-planned sale of convertible bonds, making it one of Hong Kong’s biggest this year.
The bonds due in 2030 will carry a 0.375 percent coupon, the company said in a Tuesday filing, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. The deal was originally marketed to raise HK$7.85 billion, according to terms seen earlier by Bloomberg. Read more>>
Amazon Teaming with SK Group for Korea’s Largest AI Data Centre
SK Group and Amazon Web Services are partnering on an AI data centre in South Korea, with the facility at the Mipo National Industrial Complex in Ulsan set to house 60,000 GPUs.
The location isn’t a typical data centre hotspot, but it was selected due to its easy access to large-scale electricity, with SK Gas’s LNG combined heat and power plant nearby. Read more>>
Bank of Japan Holds Rates Steady, Shifts Course on Bond Purchases
The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady Tuesday and decided to slow the pace of reduction in its bond purchases from next fiscal year, signalling its preference to move cautiously in normalising still-easy monetary policy.
As widely expected, the central bank maintained short-term interest rates at 0.5 percent by a unanimous vote at the two-day policy meeting that ended Tuesday. Read more>>
Goldman Sachs Says China Housing Demand to Stay 75% Below 2017 Peak
China’s demand for new homes in cities is expected to stay at 75 percent below its 2017 peak in the coming years, due to a shrinking population and expectations of price declines that have been hurting investment interest, according to Goldman Sachs.
“Falling population and slowing urbanisation suggest decreasing demographic demand for housing,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a report. “Investment demand in China could turn negative as owners sell vacant apartments.” Read more>>
Singapore’s 1880 Club Leaves Staff Unpaid in Sudden Collapse
Singapore private members club 1880 announced its sudden closure on Tuesday after almost eight years in business, with its holding and operating companies placed under provisional liquidation.
The club, located in Robertson Quay, explained the closure in e-mail and WhatsApp messages to members in the early hours of 17 June. It said it could not secure several offers to invest in or acquire 1880 and has no funds to pay staff and suppliers. Read more>>
Is Hong Kong’s New World Too Big to Fail?
New World Development’s financial distress is creating angst just as Hong Kong is starting to regain its feet.
The builder’s systemic importance is of great concern to residents, policymakers and investors alike. Property fire sales at New World could drag down home prices further, while a potential default will impair banks’ loan books. But for holders of the company’s $4.5 billion in perpetual bonds, there’s a possible happy ending if the builder is deemed too big to fail: an equity injection from Chinese state-owned enterprises or the Hong Kong government would make their day. Read more>>
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