BlackRock is looking for more space in Singapore
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, asset management champ BlackRock plans a major expansion in Singapore, private equity giant Blackstone completes its acquisition of Aussie casino operator Crown Resorts, and Fitch Ratings drops coverage of a Chinese homebuilder.
BlackRock Set to Double Singapore Footprint
BlackRock is poised for a major expansion in Singapore as it follows other international firms looking to tap capital flows into Southeast Asia.
The world’s largest asset manager is in discussions to double its floor space at an office block in the city-state’s central business district, according to people familiar with the matter. The US firm is expecting to add dozens of staff from local hiring and some relocations from Hong Kong, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters. Plans are still at an early stage, the people said. Read more>>
Blackstone Completes Acquisition of Crown Resorts
Blackstone on Friday announced that real estate funds and private equity funds under its management have completed the acquisition of Crown Resorts Ltd in the largest transaction to date for the firm in Asia Pacific.
The transaction comprises three premium resort and casino properties in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Blackstone says it will work with the Crown team to transform these properties into world-class entertainment destinations and ensure compliance, governance and integrity. Read more>>
Park Hotel Management Director Sued Over Fund Transfers
Park Hotel CQ and its liquidators have filed a lawsuit against Park Hotel Management director Allen Law Ching Hung over some S$6.5 million ($4.7 million) in funds that were transferred out of PHCQ.
Law was the sole director of PHCQ, which is fully owned by PHMPL, from April 2013 until March 2021, when he stepped down as director. Lim Kang-Ling, previously general manager of the Park Hotel Clarke Quay property, was appointed the sole director on the same day. The sole shareholder and director of PHMPL, Law is the son of Hong Kong billionaire Law Kar Po, who is worth some $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. Read more>>
Fitch Withdraws Ratings on Xinyuan
Fitch Ratings has withdrawn Chinese homebuilder Xinyuan Real Estate’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating of CC, as well as its senior unsecured rating and the rating on its outstanding bonds of C, with a recovery rating of RR5.
Fitch withdrew the ratings because Xinyuan has chosen to stop participating in the rating process. Therefore, Fitch will no longer have sufficient information to maintain the ratings. Accordingly, Fitch will no longer provide ratings or analytical coverage for Xinyuan. Read more>>
China’s FangDD Avoids NASDAQ Delisting
FangDD Network Group on Thursday announced that it had been notified by the NASDAQ on 22 June that the Chinese online brokerage had regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement set by the exchange.
In order to regain compliance with the NASDAQ’s minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share, FangDD had on 7 June changed the ratio of its ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares from one ADS representing 25 Class A ordinary shares to one ADS representing 375 Class A ordinary shares. Read more>>
CapitaLand Plans 40MW Data Centre in Hyderabad
Singaporean real estate group CapitaLand is set to build a data centre in India’s Hyderabad.
The 40-megawatt greenfield facility will be located in the Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy City, a business district in the Madhapur area, and have a dedicated gas insulation substation within the site. Read more>>
GCB Singapore Bungalow Deals Dip as Sentiment Erodes
Transactions have fallen dramatically in the Good Class Bungalow market amid a widening buyer-seller price gap, coupled with weak sentiment in recent months from the stock market, cryptocurrency, macroeconomic and geopolitical fronts.
List Sotheby’s International Realty’s analysis of URA Realis caveats data downloaded on 21 June showed that so far this quarter there have been nine deals in GCB Areas totalling S$224.2 million ($161.5 million). These figures are not even one-third of the 31 transactions that amounted to nearly S$900 million in last year’s second quarter. Read more>>
Mercatus Transaction to Benefit CICT, FCT and LREIT: DBS
The sale of the retail malls under Mercatus Co-operative, a unit of NTUC Enterprise Co-operative, will be keenly watched, DBS Group Research analysts said in a Thursday report.
On 16 June, Bloomberg reported that the NTUC unit was exploring a sale of its retail malls — AMK Hub, Jurong Point, Nex and Swing By @ Thomson Plaza — for a sum of S$4 billion ($2.9 billion). Read more>>
Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
Leave a Reply