Blackstone Closes on $449M Sale of Seaworld Stake and more Asia Real Estate Headlines

Leading the news this morning, proving that there is life after China’s capital controls, the Blackstone Group has brought in nearly half of billion dollars by selling a stake in SeaWorld to a mainland buyer. Some other would-be sellers have been less fortunate with their bets, as the Kushner clan discover that the hard-sell may not be the best approach for their Jersey City project. Meanwhile, down in Hong Kong, the government has decided to make developers cough up more cash if they want to buy a piece of that precious island. Read on for all all these stories and more.

Blackstone Closes on $449M Seaworld Stake Sale

SeaWorld Entertainment, a leading theme park and entertainment company, today announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhonghong Zhuoye Group has completed its previously announced acquisition of an approximately 21% equity interest in SeaWorld from funds affiliated with The Blackstone Group at a price of $23.00 per share.

SeaWorld has signed agreements with an affiliate of Zhonghong Group to support the creation of concept designs and provide development analysis for theme parks, water parks, and interactive parks, along with supporting the visioning of a preliminary family entertainment center concept, and to evaluate potential development opportunities with Zhonghong Group in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau over the next three years. Read more>>

Kushners Bail on Planned Shenzhen EB-5 Pitch After Media Uproar

The company belonging to Jared Kushner’s family is pulling out of a presentation to investors in China following criticism that his sister invoked his work for his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, in a similar pitch last weekend.

James Yolles, a Kushner Cos. spokesman, said Thursday that no employee will appear at the presentation in Shenzhen on Saturday. He declined to say whether a third party would promote the project on its behalf. Read more>>

Hong Kong Slaps Borrowing Limits on Developers

Hong Kong’s property developers will face tougher restrictions on the amount of money they can borrow from banks under new measures to be introduced next month in a bid to protect lenders from risk.

From June 1, all banks will be required to lower their caps on the amount they lend to developers for construction financing, according to a circular issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s de facto central bank, on Friday. Read more>>

China’s First Hello Kitty Theme Park to Launch Next Year

The first Hello Kitty theme park in China is set to open its doors inside a Shanghai shopping mall in October 2018. Three floors of the Shanghai Mart retail center will be transformed into an immersive Hello Kitty experience.

Each floor of the theme park will be decorated to showcase different eras in Shanghai’s history. The goal is to combine the nostalgia for the city’s history and fashion from the early 20th century (see below for an example) with the fun of Hello Kitty, who is known throughout the world. Read more>>

Singapore’s UOL Group Posts 4% Profit Increase in Q1

UOL Group (UOL) has posted a 4 per cent increase in group net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017 to S$80.3 million from the preceding year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday evening.

This was due mainly to contributions from ongoing and new property development projects. Read more>>

SG-Listed Developer CDL Says Profit Fell 19% in Q1

City Developments (CDL) on Thursday (May 11) reported first-quarter profit fell 18.9 per cent from the corresponding period a year earlier, but its executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng sounded an optimistic note, saying that the housing market in Singapore is showing signs of recovery.

For the three months ended March 31, net profit amounted to S$85.5 million, down from S$105.3 million in the year-earlier period, even while revenue rose 8.4 per cent to S$783.8 million from S$723.3 million, Singapore’s second-largest listed developer said in an aftermarket statement. Read more>>

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