IGIS is planning to renovate the Millennium Hilton Seoul after buying it from CDL
Distress leads the news today with reports from Korea and mainland China showing signs of tough financial times for real estate firms, including Singapore’s CDL selling a Seoul luxury hotel after suffering a disastrous 2020.
Also, a fresh set of government statistics show that China’s home sales fell nearly 17 percent in September, as the Evergrande crisis spooks homebuyers, and the country’s real estate industry contracted 1.6 percent during the third quarter.
CDL Said to Sell Seoul Hilton to IGIS for $849M
Millennium Hilton Seoul will likely join the ranks of five-star hotels in downtown Seoul that were sold for redevelopment into luxury residential or hotel spaces, amid expectations of a rebound in post-pandemic travel demand.
Seoul-based IGIS Asset Management Co. has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the hotel from Singapore-listed City Developments Limited (CDL) for around 1 trillion won ($849 million), according to investment banking sources on Oct. 18. Read more>>
Mainland Home Sales Fell 17% in September
China’s residential property slump dragged on last month as the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group spread to other developers, keeping buyers away.
Home sales by value tumbled 16.9% in September from a year earlier, following a 19.7% drop in August, according to Bloomberg calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data released Monday. Read more>>
China’s Property Industry Contracted 1.6% in Q3
China’s property and construction industries have contracted in the third quarter for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, weighed by a slump in real estate.
Output in the real estate industry, a mainstay of the economy as its activities support sectors from furniture to commodities, shrank 1.6 per cent from a year ago, according to a supplemental report on gross domestic product released on Tuesday (Oct 19) by the National Bureau of Statistics. Read more>>
Singapore Tycoon Sells Mansion for $24.8M
Beleaguered Hin Leong group founder Lim Oon Kuin and his wife are selling their freehold bungalow in Second Avenue near Sixth Avenue MRT station for nearly S$33.4 million ($24.8 million). The price works out to almost S$1,671 per square foot (psf) on the land area of 19,984 square feet (sq ft).
The buyer is the family of Tan Yeow Khoon, the former executive chairman of logistics group Cogent, which was bought out by Chinese shipping company Cosco Shipping International (Singapore) and delisted from the Singapore Exchange in 2018. Read more>>
Evergrande Said to Make Onshore Bond Payment
China Evergrande Group has paid an onshore bond coupon due on Tuesday (Oct 19), 4 people with knowledge of the matter said, amid concerns about a possible offshore default by the cash-strapped developer later this week.
Hengda Real Estate Group, Evergrande’s flagship unit, has remitted funds to pay an onshore bond coupon of 121.8 million yuan (S$25.6 million), the people said. Read more>>
Chinese Bonds Firm After Kaisa and Sunac Make Coupon Payments
Chinese property bonds remained firm on Tuesday after two major developers made coupon payments, though the market remained focused on the potential for default by China Evergrande Group this week.
The bond market has responded positively to comments from China’s central bank on Friday and Sunday saying that spillover effects from Evergrande’s debt problems on the banking system were controllable and that China’s economy was “doing well”. Read more>>
IWG Opens Co-Working Space at Plus Building in Raffles Place
Flexible workspace provider IWG has opened a new co-working place in CapitaLand’s Plus Building in Raffles Place.
Under its Regus brand, IWG will be offering 22,000 sq ft of co-working space across two floors in the 28-storey building at 20 Cecil Street. This is its 16th centre under the brand in Singapore. Read more>>
Guocoland Prices S$300M Notes Due 2026 at 3.29%
Gucoland has priced its offering of S$300 million notes due 2026, to be issued at par on or about Oct 26.
The notes will bear a coupon of 3.29 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually in arrear on Apr 26 and Oct 26 in each year. They also fall under the property developer’s S$3 billion multicurrency medium-term note programme. Read more>>
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