Country Garden chairman Yang Guoqiang has less to smile about after a record profit drop
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, China’s top developer by sales posts a record profit decline, Hong Kong’s PAG agrees to buy a Dutch-themed Japanese theme park, and flustered Evergrande bondholders push their own debt restructuring plan.
Country Garden Posts Record 96% Profit Slump
Country Garden Holdings said first-half earnings plunged 96 percent, the most since its 2007 listing in Hong Kong, as China’s property crisis engulfed the nation’s largest developer by sales.
Unaudited net profit slumped to RMB 612 million (now $88.7 million) in the six months to June, a filing by the Foshan-based company showed Tuesday. Core net profit, which adjusts for items including property revaluations, dropped 68 percent. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s PAG Snaps Up Japanese Theme Park for $720 Million
Private equity firm PAG agreed to buy one of Japan’s biggest theme parks for an equity valuation of about JPY 100 billion ($720 million), doubling down in Asia’s second-biggest economy as COVID-19 protocols are eased on incoming travellers.
Hong Kong-based PAG, which oversees $50 billion, is acquiring Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-themed resort from travel agency HIS, to add to its $17 billion in investments in Japan over the past decade. Located in Nagasaki prefecture, the 376 acre (152 hectare) park has five hotels and welcomed more than 2 million visitors annually before the pandemic. Read more>>
Evergrande Bondholders Push Own Plan for Debt Restructuring
Global funds that invested in China Evergrande’s bonds have come up with their own debt restructuring plan for the cash-strapped property developer and demanded that its chair repay liabilities with his own fortune, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Frustrated bondholders submitted a proposal that laid out a framework to restructure Evergrande’s $20 billion in offshore debts in recent days after the company missed a self-imposed deadline in July to present a plan to meet its colossal liabilities, the people said. Read more>>
GuocoLand’s Half-Year Profit Up 122% on Lower Costs
Singapore-listed developer GuocoLand on Tuesday posted a 122 percent rise in net profit for the six months to June.
Although revenue fell 4 percent to S$512.8 million (now $367.6 million), the group narrowed its cost of sales to S$287.3 million, bringing its gross profit for the half-year period to S$225.5 million, which was 30 percent higher than in the year-ago period. Read more>>
Temasek to Lead $100M Funding for Crypto Landlord Animoca
Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is joining a $100 million funding round for Animoca Brands Corp, betting on one of crypto’s most prolific investment houses even after a $2 trillion market meltdown.
Temasek will lead the financing through convertible bonds, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information. It adds to a funding round first announced by Animoca in January, they said, when the Hong Kong startup raised $359 million from backers including George Soros and the Winklevoss twins. Now valued at $6 billion, Animoca raised another $75 million in the same round earlier this summer. Read now>>
Gaw Capital’s Hotel G Floated as Possible Asset Sale
The improving performance of the Singapore hotel sector, aided by the reopening of the city-state’s borders in April, is expected to spark investment interest in hospitality assets, and the owners of at least two such properties have roped in agents to suss out buying interest.
One is Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners for its Hotel G Singapore in the Middle Road/Bencoolen Street locale. The price expectation for the freehold property in the bustling Bugis/Bras Basah area is seen at S$320 million ($229.3 million), which works out to about S$1 million per room. Read more>>
V Group Preps Causeway Bay Apartments, Peak Luxury Homes for Sale
Vivien Chan, dubbed “the queen of serviced apartments”, is undeterred by the slowdown in Hong Kong’s property market, as she plans to sell flats in her company’s flagship apartment project in Causeway Bay and houses in a super-deluxe project on The Peak.
The privately owned V Group will soon offer 64 of the 120 fully furnished units at The Hayworth by V, located at 9 Yee Wo Street. Previously called V Causeway Bay, it is close to Causeway Bay MTR station and has undergone a HK$200 million ($25.5 million) renovation. Read more>>
China’s Property Slowdown Sends Bank Shares Tumbling
Shares in China’s privately run banks have fallen sharply this year, as the country’s property slowdown starts to bite.
The Shanghai-listed shares of China Merchants Bank and Ping An Bank — two of China’s biggest, most prominent privately run lenders — have fallen by 32 percent and 25 percent, respectively, since the start of 2022, wiping $68 billion off their combined stock market value. Read more>>
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