ARA, Chelsfield Get S$385.8M Green Loan for SG Project and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s edition of our regional news roundup, a pair of fund managers clinch a green loan to finance the purchase and revamp of a Singapore building, Amazon pleads for a probe into what it calls insider trading by India’s Future Retail, and a Hong Kong cruise operator unloads half of its stake in a Macau casino project.

ARA, Chelsfield Nab S$385.8M Green Loan for SG Redevelopment

ARA Asset Management and Chelsfield Asia have secured a S$385.8 million ($286.1 million) green loan from DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank to finance the acquisition and asset enhancement plans of their 50:50 joint venture purchase of 5One Central.

The building is the former Manulife Centre on Bras Basah Road. The development has a floor area of 241,000 square feet (22,390 square metres) and comprises a ground floor retail podium and large, contiguous office floor plates of at least 23,000 square feet. Read more>>

Keppel Land China Sells Chengdu Project to Longfor for RMB 1.26B

Keppel Land China, a subsidiary of Keppel Land, is divesting its 100 percent stake in Chengdu Hilltop Development Co Ltd for an aggregate amount of RMB 1.26 billion ($190 million).

The transaction, entered into by Keppel Land China’s subsidiary Hillwest Pte Ltd, is expected to earn the company a divestment gain of approximately S$43 million ($31.9 million). Read more>>

Amazon Calls for Investigation of India’s Future Retail

Global e-commerce giant Amazon has written to India’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, accusing Future Retail of insider trading, according to Reuters. The letter to SEBI dated 8 November says Future Retail revealed price sensitive information to Reliance regarding the Singapore arbitrator’s order of the injunction granted to Amazon.

On 25 October, global e-commerce giant Amazon got a stay order on the Future Retail and Reliance deal from a Singapore arbitrator and had written to BSE and SEBI to uphold the decision. Amazon had sent a legal notice to Future Coupons over Future Group’s INR 25,000 crore ($3.4 billion) deal with Reliance. Amazon had said it was denied the Rights of First Refusal for the deal with Future Group. Read more>>

Genting Hong Kong Sells Half Its Stake in Macau Casino Project

Troubled cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong has announced the sale of half its stake in Genting Macau, the company’s wholly owned local subsidiary that is developing a hotel alongside Macau’s Nam Van Lake.

According to a Wednesday filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the buyer is prominent local real estate investor Ao Mio Leong, who is the founder and representative of development firm Yoho Group. Read more>>

Condo and HDB Rents, Leasing Volume Rise Again in October: SRX Data

Rents for both Housing Board flats and condominium units in Singapore continued to rise in October, while rental volume grew for the second month running, according to flash data from real estate portal SRX Property released on Wednesday.

HDB rental volumes rose 13.9 percent month-on-month to an estimated 1,734 units in October, from 1,523 units the month before. Read more>>

Founder of China’s Beike Now Worth $20B

Zuo Hui is on a mission to bring transparency to China’s murky property market, where buyers must navigate fake listings and sometimes fraud.

To pull this off, his KE Holdings Inc uses a national chain of physical real estate offices that has been around for almost two decades, paired with a two-year-old digital platform that helps match buyers and sellers with artificial intelligence algorithms. Read more>>

Singaporeans Keep Buying Homes Despite Pandemic

Singaporean Jason Chen recently bought a S$1.7 million ($1.26 million) three-bedroom apartment in a swanky condominium, upgrading his home in the middle of a pandemic that has triggered the country’s worst-ever recession.

Undeterred by the economic slump and rising unemployment, Chen is among thousands of locals snapping up property in Singapore and taking a share of the market not seen in a decade as travel curbs thwart foreign investors. Read more>>

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