Ascendas-FirstSpace CEO Aloke Bhuniya has picked up two new projects
At the top of today’s real estate news from around the region, Singaporean developer Ascendas-Singbridge is stepping up its commitment to India’s industrial market with a pair of acquisitions by its India logistics joint venture, while in mainland China, the country’s biggest home-builders are counting their sales from a disappointing November. Also in the headlines, a company that was once one of Hong Kong’s biggest developers has a privatisation plan and there’s much more to know, just a bit further down the page.
Ascendas-Singbridge Buys India Assets for $120M
Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Group, through its logistics and warehousing joint venture with Firstspace Realty, has acquired two assets in Chennai amid a boom in India’s industrial real estate.
The two assets include a greenfield project—a piece of land in Oragadam, Chennai, for an industrial and logistics park of 2.8 million sq. ft and an over 120-acre industrial park at Periyapalayam, of which 1.2 million sq. ft has already been developed. Read more>>
Mainland Developer Sales Plunge as China Market Slows
Two of China’s top three leading property developers saw their November sales plunge even after cutting prices by nearly a third at some of their projects, as fears of a housing recession grows larger.
China Evergrande, the country’s third-largest property developer by sales, reported on Tuesday that contracted sales declined 29 per cent to 34.1 billion yuan (US$5 billion) in November from a year earlier, a day after Country Garden Holdings, the nation’s biggest developer, posted sales drop of 16 per cent to 33.8 billion yuan. Read more>>
Gordon Wu Plans to Privatise Hopewell Holdings
Property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung plans to take his flagship Hopewell Holdings company private, according to media reports, in a buyout that could cost as much as HK$20 billion (US$2.56 billion).
Shares in Hopewell were suspended on Monday pending further details of the move, which would be the end of an era for a firm that has been part of the real estate market in Hong Kong for 45 years. Read more>>
Bahrain’s Investcorp Plans to Invest Up to $1B in India
Investcorp is looking to invest up to $1 billion in India over the next five to seven years across sectors, according to the chief executive officer of the Bahrain-based firm that manages investments worth $22.5 billion
The company, Rishi Kapoor told BloombergQuint, will start evaluating investment opportunities in the country after its acquisition of IDFC Alternatives’ private equity and realty fund businesses, which manage about $450 million investments, is complete by early next year. Read more>>
Flexible Office Firm Knotel Leases From Gaw in SF
Knotel, a flexible office space service provider, has signed new office space leases at three San Francisco buildings, totaling approximately 45,000 square feet. With these trio of leases, the company now operates a total of nearly 200,000 square feet of space at 20 locations throughout the city.
In the largest deal, Knotel signed for 35,643 square-foot at 555 Montgomery St. with landlord Gaw Capital. The company will occupy the third, sixth and 17th floors of the building. Roman Adler of Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord in the deal, while HelloOffice’s Justin Bedecarre, Blake Stanley and Bryan Emmanuel worked on behalf of the tenant. Read more>>
India Facilities Management Tech Startup Raises $6.4M From Tiger
Facilio, which offers real-time facilities management to real estate owners, has raised $6.4 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global Management and existing investors Accel. The investment marks Tiger Global’s comeback in India’s startup ecosystem after realizing attractive returns from stake sales in online retailer Flipkart and cab aggregator Ola. The New York-based investment firm has raised $3.75 billion for private market investments, according to an Economic Times report.
Tiger Global is slowly stepping up the pace of investments in startups after entirely halting investing in the past two years, Mint reported. Read more>>
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