Blackstone Tees Up India Logistics Push and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Indian sheds lead the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that a US private equity giant is alleged to be lining up a $150 million logistics deal with a major Indian developer.

In other news around the region, a Singapore REIT has posted a five percent drop in distributions per unit, while valuation doubts are reported to have been behind a recent IPO flop.

Elsewhere, the latest figures show that luxury home sales in one Asian city have plummeted to a five-year low.

Blackstone Tees Up India Logistics Push

After becoming the owner of India’s largest office real estate portfolio, US private equity giant Blackstone has now set its sights on the country’s burgeoning warehousing and logistics sector.

Being one of the largest owners of warehousing spaces globally, the group is moving to create a large portfolio in India as it holds advanced talks to acquire and build logistics assets in the country. Read more>>

Retailers Targeted By Protestors Look to Sell Up

Companies that have been frequently targeted and vandalised in anti-government protests, because of links to mainland China or their owners supporting Beijing, are looking to downsize operations amid a gloomy retail environment.

Restaurant operator Fulum Group Holdings has put eight properties worth some HK$2.57 billion ($327.78 million) on sale. Read more>>

Suntec REIT Posts 5.1% Drop in DPU

Suntec REIT on Wednesday posted a 5.1 percent drop in distribution per unit (DPU) to S$0.024 Singapore ($0.017) for the third quarter, from S$0.025 a year ago.

This was mainly due to an enlarged unit base, after units from a S$200 million private placement were issued on May 6. Read more>>

Hong Kong Luxury Home Sales Sink to 5-Year Low

Sales of luxury homes fell to a five-year low last month as Hong Kong’s property market continued to reel from the ongoing civil unrest, extending a decline that started in June.

Only 93 new and used homes worth more than HK$20 million ($2.55 million) each were sold, totalling HK$4.68 billion in September, according to figures compiled by Centaline Property Agency. Read more>>

Blackstone Results Boosted by Real Estate Division

Blackstone celebrated a bumper quarter in its real estate division, notching up profitable sales and raising a $20.5 billion war chest that is the sector’s largest ever fund, helping push the firm to a decisive earnings beat.

The world’s largest private equity firm reported net income of $779 million for the three months to June 30, 15 percent ahead of analysts’ forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. Asset sales in the quarter reached $4.6 billion in the real estate division alone. Read more>>

Wing Tai Net Profit Triples to S$6.8M

Wing Tai Holdings’ net profit more than tripled to S$6.8 million for the first quarter ended 30 Sept, thanks to a 20 per cent reduction in the cost of sales and higher profits from associates and joint ventures.

The Singapore-listed property investment and development company said this was due to a 20 percent fall in cost of sales and higher profits from affiliates and joint ventures. Read more>>

Valuation Doubts Behind PropertyGuru IPO Flop

PropertyGuru’s choice of Australia as a listing venue that holds more promise than its home bourse in Singapore has turned out to be not so hot after all.

The Southeast Asian real estate portal on Wednesday abandoned its proposed flotation on the Australia Securities Exchange (ASX), citing uncertainty in the initial public offering (IPO) market. The company said it decided not to proceed with the IPO despite “strong investor support” from a number of global and Australian investors. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.

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