Ascendas REIT Buying US Office Assets for $560M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Leading today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore’s biggest business space REIT is raising cash to buy a pair of San Francisco office assets for $560 million.

Also in the news, India’s Prestige Group agrees to sell a hefty portfolio of properties to Blackstone, GIC is investing $930 million in US tech properties, and a London penthouse changes hands for a kingly sum.

Ascendas REIT Buying San Francisco Offices for $560M

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust has launched a private placement and preferential offering to raise gross proceeds of about S$1.2 billion ($890 million).

This will go into financing its potential and proposed overseas acquisitions, including the $560.2 million purchase of two office properties in San Francisco that was also announced on Tuesday morning. Read more>>

Prestige Group to Sell Commercial Projects to Blackstone for $1.2B

Realty firm Prestige Estates Projects Ltd on Monday said it had agreed to sell a large portfolio of office, retail and hotel properties to global investment firm Blackstone for an enterprise value of INR 9,160 crore ($1.2 billion).

Bengaluru-based Prestige signed term sheets on Monday with the Blackstone group, and the deal is likely to be closed next month. Read more>>

Singapore’s GIC Forms $930M US JV

Ventas Inc has formed a joint venture with GIC that will initially own four in-progress university-based research and innovation (R&I) development projects with total project costs estimated at $930 million. The JV may be expanded to include other, pre-identified future projects.

The Chicago-based healthcare REIT contributed its ownership interest in the initial R&I JV projects into the JV. Ventas will own a 50 percent-plus interest, and GIC will own a 45 percent interest in the initial projects, which span Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Tucson. Ventas’s exclusive development partner, Wexford Science & Technology, remains the developer of, and a minority partner in, the initial projects. Read more>>

Blackstone’s Embassy Office Parks Aims to Raise Up to $500M

Embassy Office Parks, India’s first publicly listed REIT, is looking to raise between $400 million and $500 million as it looks to acquire more office assets and amplify its existing portfolio, people familiar with the plans told Moneycontrol.

Embassy Office Parks, which is backed by private equity giant Blackstone and Bengaluru-based realty player Embassy, is the largest REIT in Asia by area. Read more>>

99 Group Acquires Singapore Real Estate Portal SRX

99 Group, which operates several Southeast Asian property platform brands including 99.co, has acquired property portal Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).

Under a sale and purchase agreement finalised on Saturday, 99 Group will acquire all of the shares in StreetSine Singapore, which operates SRX, the company announced in a Tuesday release. Read more>>

SG Condo Resale Volume Rises 21.6% in October

Resale volumes of non-landed private homes in Singapore rose 21.6 percent month-on-month to 1,509 units in October, a level not seen since May 2018.

This comes amid healthy demand for homes, signalling recovery from the COVID-19 situation as more buyers enter the market, according to research heads from PropNex and ERA. Read more>>

Lodha’s UK Arm Sells Penthouse in London for £140M

Lodha UK, the real estate arm of Lodha group, on Monday said it recently sold a penthouse in London in the “most expensive” home sale deal this year.

Mumbai-based Lodha said in a release that its UK arm sold the penthouse at London’s No.1 Grosvenor Square for £140 million ($185 million), making it “the world’s most expensive real estate sale in 2020″. Read more>>

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