CapitaLand Reshuffles Roles After $11B Merger and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A leadership reshuffle leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with news that a major Singapore developer that now holds assets under management in excess of S$100 billion is going through a reorganisation at the top, while Hong Kong’s second-wealthiest man is finally stepping down four months after his 90th birthday.

In other news from around the region, China’s property bubble shows signs of a Japan-style catastrophe ahead, and homeowners are resorting to drastic measures in the world’s least affordable city in the world.

CapitaLand Reshuffles Leadership After $11B Ascendas-Singbridge Deal

Property giant CapitaLand is setting up a new executive committee to provide strategic business planning, organisational alignment and implementation as it reorganises following its mega Ascendas-Singbridge acquisition.

The new committee, led by CapitaLand group CEO Lee Chee Koon, will include several top executives from Ascendas-Singbridge, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday morning (May 27) before the market opened. Read more>>

90 Year-old Property Tycoon Lee Shau-kee Steps Down

Hong Kong’s second-wealthiest man Lee Shau-kee will retire as chairman of Henderson Land Development after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on May 28, according to a stock exchange filing by the property developer he founded.

Lee, who turned 90 in March, is stepping away “due to his advanced age”, the filing said. The tycoon will be succeeded by his two sons Peter Lee Ka-kit and Martin Lee Ka-shing, who will take over the reins as joint chairmen and managing directors, according to the filing. Read more>>

Homeowners Slash Prices in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s property market sentiment is souring. Homeowners are slashing asking prices while buyers are forfeiting deposits on new flats amid the escalating US-China trade war.

In New Territories, which has an ample supply of new flats, about 10 per cent of the homeowners have started lowering prices by an average of 5 per cent in the past two weeks to woo buyers, according to agents. Read more>>

China Property Bubble Augurs Japan-Style Collapse

China must exercise extreme caution in handling its housing sector because it is showing signs similar to those witnessed during Japan’s bubble period of the 1980s that contributed to the collapse of Japanese asset prices and its subsequent “lost decades” of weak economic growth and deflation, a Japanese financial system expert warned.

The parallels between China’s current landscape and Japan’s two decades ago are readily apparent, stemming from a loose monetary policy that laid the foundation for the expansion of a housing bubble, said Naoyuki Yoshino, dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute. Read more>>

Hyatt to Launch First Hyatt Centric Hotel in Victoria Harbour

Hyatt Hotels Corporation  (NYSE: H) announced today that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited to rebrand the 665-room Hotel VIC on the Harbour to Hyatt Centric Victoria Harbour Hong Kong by the third quarter of 2019.

This will be the first Hyatt Centric hotel in the Greater China region, joining the brand’s inaugural property in Asia, Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo which opened in 2018. Read more>>

Singapore’s Shenton Way Ranked Top for Tech Tenants

Singapore has been ranked among Asia’s top commercial real estate locations, with attractive sectors for technology, media and telecommunications firms, according to a new report.

It found the Shenton Way/Tanjong Pagar district was rated the highest here for such companies and flexible workspace operators due to its “excellent accessibility”. Read more>>

China Vanke in 2nd Round Bidders for Majority Stake in Metro

HONG KONG (Reuters) – At least eight suitors are preparing second-round bids to buy a majority stake in German wholesaler Metro AG’s Chinese operations, Reuters learned from people directly involved in the matter, as suitors vie for heft in a changing offline landscape.

A deal could see Metro’s China business valued at $1.5 billion to $2 billion, Reuters previously reported. Read more>>

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