Mainland Developer Surrenders Seaworld Shares After Default and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

The financial struggles of yet another mainland China investor who purchased asset from Blackstone lead today’s headlines from around the region, as Zhonghong Zhuoye learns the Seaworld isn’t all fun and games. Also in the world of the big fish eating the little, mainland developer debt appears to be devouring Asia’s high yield bond markets, and in India, the co-working roller coaster looks to be enjoying the latest stage of the thrill ride. These stories and more are all here for you.

China’s Zhonghong Hands Over Seaworld Shares One Year After Default

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. said that Sun Wise Co., its largest stockholder and an affiliate of China’s Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co., handed the shares over to a securities agent after defaulting on its loans.

SeaWorld has canceled a design-and-development deal with Zhonghong, a real estate developer headquartered in Beijing, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The Orlando, Florida-based theme-park owner said the cancellation won’t have an immediate impact on its business. Read more>>

Chinese Developers Now 48% of Asia’s Junk Bond Market

Asia’s high-yield-bond market is being overwhelmed by Chinese real-estate companies, leaving it increasingly dependent on the questionable health of a single sector.

Nearly all Asian high-yield debt issued in the first quarter came from Chinese property companies, according to ratings company Moody’s. Their bonds now represent 48% of the ICE Bank of America Merrill Lynch Asian Dollar High Yield Index, which tracks securities worth $162 billion—outweighing every other sector by miles. Read more>>

India Co-Working Leases Quadruple in Q1

o-working operators have leased 2.9 million sq ft of area, largely office space, during January-March 2019 across seven major cities – a jump of nearly four-fold from the year-ago period, to meet rising demand for shared and flexible workplace, property consultant CBRE said.

Co-working players had leased just 0.8 million sq ft space in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to a CBRE report ‘India Flexible Space Quarterly Digest– Q1 2019’. Read more>>

Mapletree Buys Sydney Office Tower for A$275M

Singapore’s Mapletree Investments has acquired an office tower at 111 Pacific Highway in North Sydney for A$275m (€127m) from Oxford Properties.

In March, Oxford Properties announced plans to sell 40% of around A$4.5bn (€2.82bn) worth of assets in Australia held in the former Investa Office Fund. The property arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS – which outbid Blackstone in a A$3.5bn offer for the trust in December last year – is planning to sell a total of 11 non-core properties valued at A$1.4- A$1.5bn. Read more>>

Shenzhen Pledges to Follow Singapore’s Public Housing Model

Shenzhen, one of the most expensive cities in China, is poised to borrow a page from the playbook of Singapore for providing more subsidised homes, ditching the Hong Kong model the Chinese city has followed for more than two decades since private home ownership reforms were rolled out.

Shenzhen, known as China’s Silicon Valley, will offer 1 million government-subsidised homes at as low as half of the prevailing market rate, according to a consulting paper issued by the Housing and Construction Bureau of Shenzhen on April 29. Read more>>

Hong Kong Mall Landlords Try Out Mini Golf, E-Sports in Quest for Revenue

The landlords of Hong Kong’s shopping centres are combining entertainment with retailing to turn many of the city’s malls into lifestyle destinations, a strategy for hanging on to returning customers as they compete with the increasing popularity of e-commerce.

At least three malls in Mong Kok, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui are offering activities such as e-sports, mini golf, indoor family entertainment along with their main retail offerings of shoes, apparels and toys. Read more>>

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