Blackstone Leads Bidding for $2.6B Tokyo Complex and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Japanese deals lead Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today with Blackstone said to lead bidding for a Tokyo commercial asset and activist investor Elliott Management taking aim at a major utility and its property portfolio.

Blackstone Leads Bidding for $2.6B Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho Complex

Blackstone Inc has emerged as the frontrunner to buy a mixed-use office complex in Tokyo being sold by Seibu Holdings Inc. in a deal that could be worth around JPY 400 billion ($2.6 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

Seibu has chosen to work with the US alternative investment firm for the sale of its Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho after a months-long bidding process, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Read more>>

Elliott Builds 5% Stake in Tokyo Gas in Pursuit of Real Estate Assets

Elliott Management has become one of the three biggest shareholders in Tokyo Gas, as it seeks to push the Japanese utility to focus on its energy business and scale back a property portfolio that the activist investor estimates could be worth as much as $9 billion.

Elliott, whose 5 percent stake was made public on Tuesday in a stock exchange filing, has calculated that the unrealised market value of Tokyo Gas’s real estate holdings is worth about JPY 1.5 trillion ($9.7 billion), almost the equivalent of its market capitalisation, according to people familiar with the US activist fund. Read more>>

GuocoLand Leads $261M Top Bid for Singapore Residential Site

A GuocoLand-led consortium placed the top bid for a private housing site for about 400 units in Faber Walk, beating two other groups at the government tender’s close on Tuesday (Nov 19).

The S$349.9 million ($261 million) bid placed by GuocoLand, TID Residential and Intrepid Investments translates to a land rate of about S$900 per square foot of built area for the Clementi area plot. This is at the higher end of the expectations of analysts earlier polled by The Business Times. Read more>>

Hilton Aims to Quadruple India Room Pipeline Within Five Years

Hilton Worldwide expects to quadruple the number of hotel rooms in its India pipeline in the next five years, the company’s APAC chief said, as the hotel operator seeks to close the gap with rivals amid a booming domestic travel market.

The Virginia-based company currently has 29 hotels in India, compared with InterContinental’s 45, Hyatt’s 50 and Marriott’s 150. Read more>>

Guangzhou Offers Permanent Residency to Homebuyers to Boost Market

Guangzhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong is set to become the first Chinese first-tier city to introduce a policy allowing homebuyers to receive a permanent residence permit.

Individuals who buy an apartment in seven suburban districts, and have paid social security in Guangzhou for at least one year, can apply to obtain residency status, also known as hukou, according to a draft policy issued by the local government yesterday. The city has a total of 11 administrative districts. Read more>>

Shenzhen Joins Beijing and Shanghai in Offering Tax Breaks to Boost Sales

Shenzhen has become the latest major mainland Chinese city after Beijing and Shanghai to announce tax breaks on large homes to spur sales, echoing the government’s call to stabilise the market with a series of measures to arrest a four-year slump.

Authorities in Shenzhen, a mega-city across the border from Hong Kong which is home to giant companies such as Tencent Holdings and BYD, late on Tuesday said homeowners no longer have to pay value-added tax when reselling their property after more than two years. Read more>>

Thailand’s Minor International Plans Hotel REIT to Cut Debt Load

Minor International Pcl, one of Asia’s largest hospitality groups, plans to halve its more than $7 billion liabilities by floating a real-estate investment trust next year, while betting on a strong recovery in tourism to drive a double-digit growth in profit.

The operator of more than 500 hotels worldwide, Minor plans to float “a very strong REIT” by re-deploying some of the properties in its portfolio to cut its liabilities, said Bill Heinecke, chairman of the Bangkok-based company. The move will further reduce the leverage and have a “major impact” on the company, he said without identifying hotels that will be brought under the planned REIT. Read more>>

Hong Kong Regime Sentences 45 Political Opponents to Jail Time Under Security Law

Forty-five ex-lawmakers and activists were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison Tuesday in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a Beijing-imposed law that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement.

They were prosecuted under the 2020 national security law for their roles in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors said their aim was to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately. 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.