In today’s roundup of regional headlines, CapitaLand India Trust has upped its commitments to India’s office sector and the chairman of HSBC’s largest shareholder calls for the break-up of the global bank. Hong Kong’s falling home prices are also back in the news and China’s Fosun International is selling off its stake in a mining company to raise cash.
CapitaLand India Trust Sets Up Office Development Platform With L&T
CapitaLand India Trust has joined forces with L&T Realty on a 6 million square foot (560,000 square metre) commercial property platform, with Mumbai-based L&T to build and develop the office spaces and Singapore-listed CLINT to market them.
The platform’s non-binding term sheet calls for the development of prime office properties across Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai. CLINT, which recently rebranded from Ascendas India Trust, and whose manager is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore’s CapitaLand Investment, expects most of the capital commitment for the projects to start from the second half of 2024. Read more>>
Ping An Chairman Makes First Public Call for Break-Up of HSBC
The chairman of HSBC’s largest shareholder, Ping An, has said the Chinese insurer would support plans to spin off HSBC’s Asian business as he warned that the bank’s global business mode is “no longer competitive”.
Ping An chairman Huang Yong said HSBC is lagging behind its peers, as he called on the bank to “reallocate more resources” away from Europe and America towards its more profitable Asian business. Read more>>
Hong Kong Home Prices Plunge Most Since 2016 Following Fed Rate Hike
The slump in Hong Kong’s property market is accelerating as borrowing costs rise.
The Centaline gauge of secondary home prices fell 2% in the week ending Oct 30 from the previous week, the most since March 2016, according to data released on Friday. The drop took the index to its lowest level since December 2017. Read more>>
Fosun to Raise $561M From Mining Sale Stake as Part of Asset Sell-Down
China’s Fosun International said Monday that it would raise $561 million by selling part of its shares in Zhaojin Mining Industry Co as part of its ongoing string of asset sell-downs.
The company, through one of its units, is offloading 654.1 million Zhaojin Mining shares for HK$6.72 ($0.86) each, a 1.8 percent discount from the closing price last Friday. Read more>>
China Stocks May Rally 20% on Full Reopening: Goldman
Strategists at Goldman Sachs say a complete China reopening will drive a 20 percent gain in Chinese equities, citing signs that the government may be starting to prepare for a relaxation of its COVID Zero policy after a key leadership summit.
An increase in flights and growing adoption of an inhalable vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics are encouraging news, strategists including Kinger Lau wrote in a note dated Sunday. Goldman economists expect the government to start to relax rules in the second quarter of 2023, the report said. Read more>>
Lendlease Global REIT’s Q1 Portfolio Occupancy Eases Slightly to 99.7%
Lendlease Global REIT’s portfolio occupancy for the quarter ended 30 September fell 0.1 percentage points to 99.7 percent, down from 99.8 percent last quarter, the Singapore-listed trust’s manager said Monday.
Weighted average lease expiry stood at 8.5 years when adjusted by net lettable area and 5.5 years when adjusted by gross rental income. Read more>>
Greenland Holdings Downgraded to CC by S&P Global Ratings
Chinese developer Greenland Holdings was downgraded to CC from CCC- by S&P Global Ratings, and its senior bonds were reduced to C from CC.
The downgrade comes on the back of the company’s consent solicitation last week to extend the maturity of nine of its dollar bonds, as it expects to default on its dollar bond due on 13 November. S&P considers the proposed maturity extensions as distressed and said the transaction would be “tantamount to a default”. Read more>>
Thai Government Struggles With Public Push Back to Plan to Sell Land to Foreigners
The Thai government is under pressure after the cabinet approved a bill that allows foreigners to own land if they invest in Thailand, a policy that has been widely derided as “selling off” the country.
The measure allows foreigners who obtain a long-term resident visa to buy up to one rai (1,600 square metres) of land to build a house under the condition that they invest at least THB 40 million ($1 million) in the country for at least three years. Read more>>
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