Blackstone Continues to Curb BREIT Redemptions and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, fund management giant Blackstone says redemption requests for its private REIT slowed in February, and Allianz Real Estate rebrands under the PIMCO banner.

Blackstone Blocked Investor Withdrawals From $71B REIT in February

Blackstone said Wednesday that it had blocked investors from cashing out their investments at its $71 billion BREIT as the private equity firm continues to grapple with a flurry of redemption requests.

BREIT fulfilled redemption requests of $1.4 billion in February, which represents only 35 percent of the roughly $3.9 billion in total withdrawal requests for the month, Blackstone said in a letter to investors. Total BREIT redemption requests in February were 26 percent lower than the $5.3 billion reached in January, the firm said. Read more>>

Allianz Real Estate Renamed PIMCO Prime Real Estate

Allianz Real Estate on Tuesday announced its rebranding as PIMCO Prime Real Estate.

The change comes more than two years after PIMCO officially assumed oversight of Allianz Real Estate in October 2020. Read more>>

Vanke, Poly to Raise $2.3B by Issuing Shares as Market Thaws

Two of China’s biggest developers confirmed plans to raise cash by selling shares, the latest sign that financing conditions for the embattled industry are improving.

China Vanke will raise $499 million in a Hong Kong share placement, its first in the Asian financial hub since 2020. State-run Poly Developments & Holdings Group said the Shanghai Stock Exchange is reviewing its plans announced in December for an onshore private share sale of as much as RMB 12.5 billion ($1.8 billion). Read more>>

Singapore Hikes Minimum Investment for Ultra-Rich Seeking Permanent Residency

Individuals seeking permanent resident status via Singapore’s Global Investor Programme must soon invest more: at least S$10 million ($7.4 million) in a business or S$25 million in an approved fund. Those establishing family offices must deploy and maintain at least S$50 million in any of the four investment categories.

The changes take effect on 15 March for new applicants. The old requirements will continue to apply for existing GIP PRs and applications received before 15 March. Read more>>

UOL Focuses on Land Replenishment, Targets Launches in Pine Grove, Watten Estate

At a conference held Monday to share the 2022 results of UOL Group, CEO Liam Wee Sin reflected on the past year, which was characterised by a robust property market. At the same time, he said a strategic thrust for the company going forward is a focus on land replenishment.

His comments come as the Singaporean developer celebrates an exceptionally successful year underpinned by strong sales among all its property development projects and hotel operations via its subsidiary Pan Pacific Hotels Group. Read more>>

Indiabulls Real Estate Plunges 7% as Managing Director Resigns

Shares of Indiabulls Real Estate slipped 7 percent on Tuesday after the company announced the resignation of Mehul Johnson as a managing director of the company with effect from 27 February.

Meanwhile, the board approved the appointment of Sachin Chittaranjan Shah as an additional director designated as executive director of the company for a period of five years in place of Johnson, Indiabulls said in an exchange filing. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Office Landlords Face Tough Rebound

Hong Kong offices are emptier than in other Asian financial centres. While the borders are open and the city has dropped its mask mandate, a recovery looks tough. Commercial real estate space is growing, and there are fewer tenants.

Overall prime office vacancies in the hub rose to over 12 percent in the three months to December, up from less than 10 percent last year, according to property consultancy JLL. Singapore and Tokyo boast rates well under half of Hong Kong’s level, and figures there are either improving or roughly unchanged. Premium office rents in the gateway to China have fallen nearly 30 percent since mid-2019. Read more>>

China Says Land Sales Slump Has Only Limited Impact on Budget

China’s local governments tap less than a fifth of the income they make from selling land to help fulfil their daily spending needs, according to China’s finance minister, who insisted this week that the hit taken by regional authorities from declining land sales is limited.

The money that local governments pull in from land sales makes up roughly 90 percent of the revenue in their government fund budget, or the balance sheet keeping track of specific projects. Yet just about 15 percent of that fund budget income is then allocated to their general public budget, or the main financial book they use to cover education, health care, disaster relief and other public services, Finance Minister Liu Kun said at a Wednesday briefing. Read more>>

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