Blackstone’s Jon Gray has got his hands on some fresh cash
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, private equity giant Blackstone raises an $11 billion war chest to buy companies in Asia, developers ESR and CK Asset obtain sustainability-linked loans, and demand for Hong Kong’s nano flats ebbs as home prices fall.
Blackstone Tees Up $11B in Fresh Capital for Asia Private Equity Deals
Blackstone has amassed $11 billion to buy companies in Asia after raising its second private equity fund for the region, nearly tripling its previous pool of capital raised in 2018.
The world’s largest alternative asset manager raised $6.4 billion and will receive an additional $4.6 billion from Blackstone global funds for the pool, said Amit Dixit, the Asia head of private equity. Since 2018, the firm has invested in deals valued at $20 billion in Asia, half of which was done last year. Read more>>
ESR Gets $329M Green Loan
Hong Kong-listed logistics giant ESR has secured a sustainability-linked loan of JPY 28 billion ($329.3 million) from a consortium of Asian banks. The loan also comes with an option to upsize to JPY 35 billion.
The five-year senior unsecured committed corporate facility will entitle ESR to a reduction of interest rates once it achieves its sustainability targets, the same tiered incentive mechanism as ESR’s inaugural $1 billion sustainability-linked loan in November 2021. Read more>>
CK Asset Goes Green With New Loans
CK Asset has announced its first sustainability-linked loans, which comprise a HK$3.5 billion ($450 million) loan signed with China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation and a HK$2 billion loan signed with MUFG Bank (Hong Kong).
According to CK Asset, interest on such loans drops greatly when environmental targets — including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions — are met over time. Read more>>
Wheelock Kwun Tong Project Strikes Out as Buyers Stay Home
Hong Kong’s property buyers stayed home over the weekend, handing Wheelock Properties the first sales slump in more than 12 months as a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 sent the market into an early recess three days before the Lunar New Year.
Wheelock failed to find any buyer for the 96 apartments on offer at its Koko Hills project in Kwun Tong, sales agents said. The flats, leftovers from July 2020, were priced at HK$21,491 ($2,758) per square foot on average after discounts, or 7.5 percent more expensive than their launch price 18 months ago. Read more>>
Demand for Hong Kong Nano Flats Could Slow as Home Prices Dip
Demand for flats that measure less than 200 square feet (19 square metres) could slow down as Hong Kong home prices head downwards after peaking in September last year, market watchers say.
These nano flats, which were once snapped up by younger buyers in particular, appear to have lost their appeal. Soyo, a nano flat development in Mong Kok, sold only 33 percent of all 120 flats on offer earlier this month. Read more>>
Surge in Singapore Retail Property Auctions in 2021: Knight Frank
More Singapore retail properties went under the hammer last year as the growth of the consumer-facing sector was stunted by recurring COVID-19 restrictions, Knight Frank said Monday in a quarterly research report.
There were 84 mortgagee listings in the retail sector in 2021, up from 52 in 2020. Read more>>
Singapore Industrial Rents, Prices Rose in 2021 Q4
Industrial developments in Singapore continued to see delays in the fourth quarter of 2021, as the three months saw total available stock rise by 11,000 square metres (118,403 square feet) in a sharp drop from the 228,000 square metres in the previous quarter.
The fourth-quarter figure was also a mere 1.5 percent of the 736,000 square metre rise in total available stock for the whole of 2021, according to JTC’s quarterly market report released last Thursday. Read more>>
CDL Hospitality Trusts Cuts H2 Distributions by 11%
CDL Hospitality Trusts’ distribution per stapled security fell by 11 percent to 3.06 Singapore cents for its second half ended 31 December 2021 from 3.44 cents a year earlier.
Gross revenue, however, rose 39.7 percent to S$91.5 million (now $67.5 million) for the half-year period from S$65.5 million a year earlier. Read more>>
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