Mainland Developer Misses $204M in Bond Payments and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Defaults, sheds and empty Japanese office buildings lead today’s collection of real estate headlines from around Asia as we finish off the first week of October. At the top of our list is a struggling Jiangsu developer that just can’t seem to meet its bond obligations, while the Singaporean heavyweights keep buying up industrial portfolios. Also in the news, LaSalle may have the perfect venue for a haunted house a bit later this month after picking up an eight-year-old, never-occupied Osaka office building, and there’s much more to know just a few lines below.

Mainland Developer Defaults on $204M in Bond Payments

Troubled mainland Chinese developer Wuzhou International Holdings said it had missed 1.4 billion yuan (US$204 million) in bond payments and was also facing claims for at least 756 million yuan, adding to a string of earlier defaults and financial woes.

The company’s revelation comes amid the rising the number of bond defaults by Chinese companies this year as the government reduced implicit guarantees, in turn moral hazard, to steer the debt market towards a healthier development. State-owned mainland media reported that 21 Chinese companies defaulted in 48.6 billion yuan of bond payments in the third quarter, with listed companies accounting for half of the volume. Read more>>

Mapletree Buys 37 Sheds From Norges for $287M

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund sold 37 logistics properties that it co-owned with Prologis, situated in the United States, France, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands, the fund said on Tuesday.

The fund received $182.6 million for its 45-percent ownership interest in the U.S. portfolio and 90.2 million euro ($104.06 million) for its 50-percent ownership in the European portfolio, it added in a statement. Read more>>

LaSalle Buys Vacant Osaka Office Tower

On October 3, LaSalle Investment Management, headquartered in Chicago, announced the purchase of Midosuji Front Tower in Osaka’s Umeda district through their Frontier Property LLC, signalling the end of the building’s 8 year vacancy. The sale price was not disclosed.

Midosuji Front Tower was completed in 2010. It has sat vacant ever since due to a dispute between the owners. When development discussions began during the previous mini-bubble in 2007, it was estimated that the completed building could bring an annual rent of between 800 million ~ 1 billion Yen. In 2012, one of the co-owners sought the demolition of the building in order to get their land returned. They later installed billboards within the grounds in both Japanese and English as a protest. Read more>>

New CapitaLand Co-Working JV Buys Out Old Co-Working JV

A joint venture between CapitaLand and The Work Project, known as The Work Project Kingdom (TWPK), has acquired Collective Works’ co-working business for an undisclosed amount.

Co-working operator Collective Works was founded in 2012 and has two locations in Singapore. In March 2016, CapitaLand and Collective Works entered into a joint venture to establish Singapore’s first premium co-working space in a Grade A office building in the central business district known as Collective Works Capital Tower.Read more>>

Prime SG Condo Fails in Bid for S$930M Collective Sale

Thomson View Condominium has joined a growing list of failed en bloc initiatives. The collective sale committee was unsuccessful in securing the requisite 80 per cent approval rate to kick-start a sale.

Only 76 per cent of owners backed the reserve price of $938 million (which was raised 3 times to meet owners’ demands). This resulted in the sale agreement lapsing on Sept 24. The 255-unit estate in Upper Thomson Road failed en bloc attempt is its fourth. Read more>>

Country Garden Continues 46% 2018 Slide in Share Price

Share buybacks are doing little to help stem a US$24 billion selloff in China’s biggest developer by sales.

One of the worst performers on Hong Kong’s equity benchmark, Country Garden Holdings Co has fallen 46 per cent from its January peak even as it spent more than US$125 million in share repurchases. China’s crackdown on the real estate market and concerns over a sales slowdown have weighed on the sector, while fatal accidents at Country Garden project sites have deepened concerns. Read more>>

WeWork Labs Launches in India

New York based WeWork has launched WeWork Labs to provide working space for early-stage start-ups in India.

WeWork, a coworking space provider launched the space for start-ups as a pilot in New York city in January and followed it up with locations in China, Korea, Brazil, Singapore, Mexico, Canada and Israel., WeWork Labs serves as a platform to early-stage start-ups and a growing hub for corporate innovation programmes. Read more>>

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

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