In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, mainland developer Country Garden plans a sale of new shares to help mend its finances, Blackstone’s India retail arm reportedly adds an upscale Delhi mall to a forthcoming REIT, and GuocoLand Malaysia swings to a profit.
Country Garden Seeks $493M From Share Sale to Help Repay Debt
Country Garden Holdings, China’s fourth-largest developer by market value, is seeking HK$3.87 billion ($493 million) of net proceeds from a stock placement to help repay offshore debt after a liquidity squeeze that crashed the industry over the past two years.
The homebuilder plans to sell 1.463 billion new shares at HK$2.68 each, or 6 percent of existing capital, to undisclosed investors. The price represents a 17.8 percent discount to the last-traded price of HK$3.26 on Monday. The placement is being made under a mandate previously approved by shareholders. Read more>>
Delhi Mall to Feature in Blackstone’s Nexus REIT
Nexus Malls, the Indian retail portfolio arm of investment company Blackstone Group, and the promoters of New Delhi’s upscale Select Citywalk mall have finalised the terms for the mall’s inclusion in an upcoming retail REIT planned by Blackstone, according to two people with knowledge of the development.
“The REIT will be called Nexus Select Trust, and promoters of Select Citywalk will get a percentage share in the REIT. There will be no deal payment to the mall promoters; however, they can exit at any time once the REIT is listed,” said one person involved in the deal. Read more>>
GuocoLand Malaysia Swings Back to Black as Hospitality Loss Narrows
GuocoLand Malaysia Bhd, the property arm of Hong Leong Group, began its financial year on a strong note after swinging to a net profit of MYR 1.57 million (now $350,000) in the first quarter ended 30 September, compared with a net loss of MYR 7.98 million in the same period last year.
The result was mainly attributable to higher contribution from the property development division and a lower loss incurred by the hospitality division. Read more>>
Singapore’s Ming Arcade Put Up for Sale for Over S$140M
Ming Arcade, a freehold project completed in 1982, has been put up for sale by public tender. Exclusive marketing agent Savills Singapore said Tuesday that it was “very confident that Ming Arcade will be sold for more than S$140 million”. This works out to about S$2,542 ($1,858) per square foot per plot ratio.
The seven-storey commercial complex was built by Ming Arcade, a subsidiary of People’s Park Development owned by the late Ho Kok Cheong. It has three basement levels, 88 units and an existing verified development baseline of 55,046 square feet (5,114 square metres), equivalent to a plot ratio of 4.54. Read more>>
Tampines Executive Condo Draws More Than 5,000 Visitors at Launch
The developers of the Tenet executive condominium in Singapore counted over 5,000 visitors at the launch weekend of the latest EC project at Tampines Street 62.
The project attracted “thousands of interested buyers” to the show gallery over the weekend, Qingjian Realty deputy general manager Yen Chong said Monday. “The strong demand is promising, and we look forward to another two weekends’ performance,” she said. Read more>>
Hong Kong Luxury Home Sales to Hit 9-Year Low in 2022, Centaline Says
Luxury home sales in Hong Kong have not been spared the effects of a slumping property market, with the number of transactions expected to hit a nine-year low in 2022 amid rising interest rates and a negative impact from the pandemic.
Only 1,800 new and used homes worth more than HK$20 million ($2.55 million) are expected to be sold this year, the lowest number since 1,430 in 2013, according to a forecast by Centaline Property Agency. The agency also estimated that luxury home sales will total HK$100 billion this year, the lowest since HK$96.81 billion in 2014. Read more>>
China’s October Retail and Industrial Data Miss Expectations
Three indicators on China’s economy in October missed expectations and marked a slowdown from September, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.
Retail sales fell by 0.5 percent in October from a year ago, the first decline since May, and industrial production grew by 5 percent, the data showed. Read more>>
Property Crisis Drives China Household Savings to Record High
Chinese households are putting money into time deposit accounts instead of buying property, a new study shows, driving savings to a record and underscoring the challenges policymakers face in spurring consumer spending in the economy.
The RMB 13.2 trillion ($1.8 trillion) jump in new household savings in the first nine months of the year was mainly driven by a RMB 3.8 trillion surge in time deposits compared with the two-year average level of 2020 and 2021, according to an analysis by Zhu He, deputy head of research at Beijing-based think tank China Finance 40 Forum. Read more>>
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