Blackstone’s $3B Buyout of Soho Moves Forward and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, China begins its antitrust review of Blackstone’s $3 billion takeover of developer Soho, Hong Kong’s CK Asset confirms plans to convert some of its hotels into housing, and Singapore Land Group swings to a first-half profit despite falling revenue.

Blackstone’s $3B Buyout of Soho Moves Towards Final Approval

China’s antitrust regulator has started its review of a general offer by US private equity firm Blackstone to take control of property developer Soho China, a necessary step needed for the $3.05 billion deal to be concluded.

The acquirer was notified on 3 August that the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) had accepted its application for the takeover, Soho China said in an exchange statement late Friday. More information or materials may have to be submitted to SAMR for vetting under China’s anti-monopoly law, the statement said, without stating how long the review would take. Read more>>

CK Asset to Convert Some Hong Kong Hotels Into Homes

CK Asset Holdings will convert some of its hotels for residential use amid a COVID-led decline in the hospitality sector and a record rise in the city’s home prices.

Victor Li, the company’s chairman and managing director, stated publicly for the first time on Thursday that a specific percentage of CK Asset’s hotels portfolio would be converted for housing in the world’s most unaffordable residential market. Read more>>

Singapore Land Swings Back to Black With S$92.2M H1 Net Profit

Real estate developer Singapore Land Group swung back into the black with a net profit of S$92.2 million (now $68 million) in the first half of 2021, reversing a net loss of S$34.3 million in the same period last year.

The rebound came despite a 13 percent drop in revenue from S$335.4 million last year to S$292.3 million, owing to a fall in residential property sales, hotel operations and technology operations. Read more>>

CDL Expects S$35M H1 Net Loss as Hotels Suffer

Property player City Developments Ltd expects to post a net loss of up to S$35 million (now $25.8 million) for the half-year ended June, reversing its year-ago profit of S$3.1 million, the company said in a profit guidance on Friday evening.

CDL expects its pre-tax profit to fall by 25-30 percent from the S$13.8 million recorded in last year’s first half, due to higher net financing costs, foreign exchange losses and lower divestment gains. Read more>>

Frasers Property Says Hospitality Portfolio Dragging Down Results

Frasers Property reported lower revenue per average room across its global hospitality portfolio from the start of the financial year to the end of June, the company said in a third-quarter business update on Friday.

Hotel operating performance continued to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and tightened curbs, it said. But performance across China “remains robust with a possibility of uptick in business” amid a nationwide vaccination programme. Read more>>

Beijing Tries to Prevent Homebuyers From Faking Divorces

Authorities in Beijing have introduced rules to stop couples from faking their divorces to be able to buy more homes in China’s capital.

Up until now, the city allowed married couples with a Beijing hukou — China’s household registration — to buy two flats in the city. Those without a Beijing hukou, as well as singles, could buy only one flat. So some couples were getting divorced on paper to be able to buy another property. The new rules, which came into effect last Thursday, are designed to stop this practice. Read more>>

More HK Developers Seek to Join Govt Land-Sharing Scheme

Three more developers have applied under a government scheme aimed at unlocking land for housing to convert two New Territories plots totalling 25 hectares (61.8 acres) into more than 16,000 flats, amounting to nearly 40 percent of Hong Kong’s annual supply target.

One of the applications, jointly made by Topwood, Success King and Richduty Development, all under parent company Sun Hung Kai Properties, seeks to build 2,616 public housing or starter homes and 1,474 private flats on a site on Ho Chau Road in Yuen Long. Read more>>

Chennai Becomes a Data Centre Hub

Tamil Nadu’s capital city, Chennai, long promoted as the “Detroit of India” for hosting several car makers, is becoming a major data centre hub.

With the central government and Reserve Bank of India insisting that players have their data stored in India, the data centre business is getting a boost. Read more>>

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