Blackstone Preps Wholly-Owned India Office Portfolio and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

After last month shepherding its second India office joint venture to a successful IPO Blackstone is assembling a wholly-owned commercial property platform in the country, according to a report in the local press today.

Apart from the US private equity giant’s latest India venture, mainland China dominated the region’s real estate news headlines today, as developer China Overseas Land & Investment prepares to launch a new tech ecosystem, co-working provider Ucommune moves forward with its backdoor listing and the scale of Anbang’s dirty deed dealings comes to light.

Blackstone Builds Up Wholly-Owned India Portfolio

Blackstone is scaling up Nucleus Office Parks, an entity that will house its income-earning commercial office assets, to consolidate its fully-owned India properties into a single platform, said a person familiar with the development.

Nucleus, which currently includes a number of properties that Blackstone has purchased outright, is expected to expand should the New York-based firm’s discussions with Bengaluru-based Prestige Group result in a purchase of the Indian developer’s nearly 16 million square foot commercial portfolio. Read more>>

New World Agrees to Preserve Historical Hong Kong Site

Hong Kong’s New World Development will preserve the 68-year old State Theatre Building, which closed in 1997, for its historical significance as it moves to acquire the rest of the site through a compulsory sale.

In 2017, the theatre at 277-291 King’s Road in North Point was classified as a Grade 1 historic building after local historians raised concerns about preserving the 1,400-seat building with its unique parabola concrete arches and concrete frescoes. Read more >>>

Mainland Developer COLI Turns to Tech

Hong Kong-based China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI) is looking to develop a technological ecosystem that will encourage new sources of income for the company amid a slowing property market.

The company will allocate 2 percent of its resources to fund businesses for elderly living, education, logistics and supply chain management. In a two pronged approach, COLI will set up two new businesses: a supply chain-focused firm for the construction materials sector and a tech company to manage residential development digitally. Read more >>>

Tahoe Shops Insurance Unit to Ping An, Other Buyers

Embattled mainland developer is courting potential buyers for its insurance subsidiary, including Ping An Insurance and China Resources, as it looks to stay afloat. Tahoe’s investment arm, Tahoe Investment, is controlled by company chairman Huang Qisen.

The property developer entered the life insurance business in 2017 when it acquired the unit from Dah Sing Financial for HK$10.6 billion. Read more >>>

Ucommune Receives $53m in Commitments for Backdoor Listing

Fourteen investors have signed on as backstop investors for Mainland coworking space provider Ucommune via special acquisitions company Orisun, according to a company press release. The two companies merged in June 2020 and the transaction is expected to close by the fourth quarter in preparation for a public listing.

The backstop investors had the choice of acquiring Orisun stock in open market purchases prior to the company merger or to purchase shares from the combined entity at $10.10. Read more >>>

Chinese Developers Implicated in LA Bribery Scheme

Suspended Los Angeles city councilman Jose Huizar was charged with accepting at least $1.5 million in bribes and indicted last month by a federal grand jury on 34 felony counts.

Among the bribes Huizar collected was more than $800,000 from a mainland property tycoon who is alleged to have helped the councilman settle a sexual harassment lawsuit and sponsor his wife’s council election campaign. Read more >>>

Dajia Hid Anbang Hotel Ownership Woes from Potential Bidders

It has come to light that Dajia Insurance Group was aware of the questionable ownership status of several US luxury hotels put up for sale in San Francisco and Santa Monica last year but did not make bidders aware.

Testifying in a trial over Mirae Asset Global’s right to cancel the deal it entered with Dajia, a lawyer for the insurance group explained the strategy of “squashing” the false deed problem until a deal had been reached. Read more >>>

HK Resi Rents Drop as Universities Move Online

Rents in the Hong Kong have fallen up to a third in neighbourhoods traditionally populated by mainland and foreign students as university students study from home.

“In previous years, mainland students started looking for flats as early as May or June, because demand would be really high. But they are not coming this year,” noted Ricacorp Research’s Derek Chan. Areas around Chinese University, Baptist University and City University in Kowloon and the New Territories were particularly hard hit. Read more >>>

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