China Evergrande Mainland Listing Plan Fizzles and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Four years after undertaking a $19.7 billion plan to achieve a back-door listing on a mainland exchange, China Evergrande’s announcement of that scheme’s failure leads Mingtiandi’s collection of real estate news from around the region.

Also in the news, Canada’s Brookfield aims to achieve an India REIT IPO within this year and four years after buying a Hawaii site for $103 million, developer China Oceanwide is putting that same resort site on the market at an asking price of $34 million.

Evergrande to Repay Investors as Mainland Listing Plan Fizzles

China Evergrande has ended a plan to engineer a back-door listing for its property development unit in Shenzhen, ending a costly four-year pursuit of one of its biggest rivals in the city.

The developer, helmed by the country’s third-richest tycoon, Hui Ka-yan, has resolved to terminate the reorganisation plan with Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Real Estate & Properties Group (Shenzhen Real Estate), it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Sunday. It did not provide any reason for the decision. Read more>>

Brookfield Pushing Ahead With India Reit IPO by Year-End

Brookfield Asset Management is pushing to list a real estate investment trust in Mumbai before the end of this year, which could raise as much as INR 38 billion ($510 million), said people familiar with the matter.

The Canadian asset manager has received good response from investors, including sovereign wealth funds and pension managers at recent roadshows, one of the people said. Read more>>

China Oceanwide Puts Hawaii Parcel on the Market for $34M

China Oceanwide Holdings Group has put a piece of the 514-acre Kapolei West lands it purchased from the James Campbell Co four years ago, an 11.3-acre parcel behind the Oahu Publications printing facility and across from the Target-anchored Kapolei Commons shopping centre, on the market for sale with an asking price of $34.45 million.

The asking price for the parcel, which is zoned for business mixed-use, or BMX-3, works out to $70 per square foot. Nathan Fong of Colliers International Hawaii is representing the seller. Read more>>

Sunac Services Seeks to Raise Over $1B in Hong Kong IPO

Property Management company Sunac Services is planning to raise up to HK$8.73 billion ($1.13 billion) through an initial public offering in Hong Kong, as the fundraising market in the city remains strong and vibrant.

The company, a unit of Sunac China Holdings, is planning to sell a total of 690 million shares at a price range of between HK$10.55-HK$12.65 a share, the company said Monday. Read more>>

Standard Chartered Plans for Permanent Shift to Flexible Working

Standard Chartered intends to offer flexible work options to more than 90 percent of its 85,000 staff over three years, a sign of how pandemic crisis management is leading to long-term change in the role of the office.

The bank said about half its staff will be able to apply for some form of hybrid work from early 2021. Standard Chartered expects the programme to apply to about 75,000 workers in 55 markets by 2023. Read more>>

Wanda’s AMC Theatres Hope to Survive Until Vaccine Arrives 

AMC Entertainment Holdings’ executives are focused on raising enough capital to keep the struggling theatre chain afloat until summer, when they believe a COVID-19 vaccine and a backlog of blockbuster films will reverse its fortunes.

The world’s largest cinema chain said on 2 November that it had enough cash to last until early 2021, assuming attendance remains at its current, modest level. Read more>>

Rockefellers to Found Creative Art Centre in Shanghai

The Rockefellers, one of America’s wealthiest families, are to bring their passion for the arts to Shanghai and plan to set up a creative arts centre that will also serve as their Asian art business headquarters, The Paper reported today.

The centre will include an art museum, a theatre, an industrial park and an interactive centre for artists from China and the US, the report said, citing Hui Xin, chief executive of the Rockefeller Art Foundation’s China headquarters at the China International Import Expo. Read more>>

New World Posts a Third Sell-Out Weekend in Tai Wai

Hong Kong’s homebuyers packed a real estate developer’s showroom over the weekend to snap up hundreds of new flats, as assurances of low interest rates by monetary authorities drove them to seek sanctuary in fixed assets.

New World Development said it sold all 337 flats at Phase II of The Pavilia Farm project in Tai Wai in the New Territories for a haul of HK$3.4 billion ($438 million) within nine hours. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.