Canadian Fund Manager Aimco Opts for Singapore and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, an Alberta-based investment manager picks Singapore for its first office in Asia, Hong Kong’s CK Asset explores land purchases in the city-state, and casino operator Genting Singapore reportedly attracts takeover interest.

Canadian Fund Manager Picks Singapore Over Hong Kong

Alberta’s $129 billion investment manager is looking at Singapore rather than Hong Kong for its first office in Asia as it plots an international expansion of its private equity group.

Alberta Investment Management Corp, known as Aimco, plans to increase its allocation to Asia-based investments and will need staff on the ground to do that, said Peter Teti, head of private equity and international. Singapore has clear advantages, he said. Read more>>

CK Asset Hunting for Land, JV Partners in Singapore

Hong Kong-listed CK Asset Holdings is looking to purchase land in Singapore and is exploring the possibility of a joint venture with Hongkong Land and Keppel Land on a large commercial project, said the company’s executive director.

Justin Chiu told the Business Times on Thursday while on a Singapore visit that he held meetings with both firms, which the developer had previously collaborated with to develop the Marina Bay Financial Centre. Read more>>

GIC to Invest $35M in Bhartiya Group’s Bengaluru Project

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has agreed to invest INR 2,800 crore ($35 million) in Bhartiya Group’s commercial project in Bengaluru, according to people aware of the deal.

The deal will see GIC pick up 3 million square feet (278,709 square metres) of commercial assets in Bhartiya City, a 125 acre (50.6 hectare) township project, along with some revenue from its facility management business, the people cited earlier told the Economic Times, adding that a “definite agreement between both parties was signed this week”. Read more>>

Casino Firm Genting Singapore Draws Takeover Interest

Shares in Genting Singapore Ltd jumped after Bloomberg News reported that the city-state casino operator is attracting takeover interest as tourists start to return to the Asian travel hub.

US rival MGM Resorts International recently approached the firm’s controlling shareholder, the billionaire Lim family, to express interest in a deal, people with knowledge of the matter said. While those discussions didn’t lead to an agreement, other potential suitors have also been in the preliminary stages of studying Genting Singapore, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Read more>>

China Home Prices Fall for 10th Month as Crisis Deepens

Chinese property prices fell for a 10th month in June, underscoring how government relief efforts are failing to curb the country’s spiralling real estate crisis.

New home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, slipped 0.1 percent from May, when they sank 0.17 percent, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed Friday. Home sales fell from a year earlier, although the pace of declines eased. Read more>>

China Property Protests Threaten $220 Billion Hit to Banks

China’s banks are at risk of a substantial hit to their mortgage portfolios as homebuyers threaten to halt loan repayments because of unfinished apartments.

ANZ estimates that up to RMB 1.5 trillion ($220 billion) of mortgage loans linked to unfinished residential projects in China are at risk. The protests are currently focused on central Chinese cities but the risk is that they widen, the banking group said. Read more>>

Hong Kong to Boost Sales of Residential Land to Help Affordability

Hong Kong’s government will sell more land in its fiscal second quarter, increasing the number of homes that can be built on the land tenfold, after the new administration of city leader John Lee pledged to “spare no effort” to ease housing shortages in the world’s least affordable urban centre.

The government will sell three plots of residential land in Sha Tin, Kwai Chung and Tuen Mun, totalling 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres), according to an announcement by development secretary Bernadette Linn. Read more>>

Wharf REIC Warns of Loss as Value of Investment Properties Erodes 

Wharf Real Estate Investment Co, one of Hong Kong’s biggest commercial landlords, has warned investors of a likely loss for the first half of this year, as the toughest anti-pandemic measures in the city hit businesses and eroded the value of its properties.

The group, whose HK$272 billion ($34.6 billion) worth of investment assets include the Harbour City shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Times Square mall in Causeway Bay, said a revaluation deficit may exceed income generated from its operations in the interim report to be released by early next month, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. Read more>>

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