Daiwa House Industry Checks Out of Resorts and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Japanese developer Daiwa House Industry sells its resort hotel business, and mainland power couple Celine and Gordon Tang buy more shares of Singaporean builder Chip Eng Seng.

Daiwa House Industry Sells Resort Unit to GK Ebisu for $407M

Japan’s Daiwa House Industry has announced the sale of its resort hotel business to GK Ebisu Resort for JPY 55.6 billion ($407 million).

Daiwa Resort operated 24 hotels across Japan. Hotel operating ratios had dropped to 66 percent due to the prolonged effect of the pandemic on tourism and ageing hotel buildings. Revenue for the year ending March 2022 was down almost 60 percent from 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Read more>>

Tang-Controlled Firm Buys More Shares of Chip Eng Seng

United Overseas Bank, in its capacity as financial advisor to Tang Dynasty Treasure, on Tuesday disclosed the firm’s acquisition of 1,927,700 shares of Singapore-listed developer Chip Eng Seng.

The investment vehicle of mainland billionaire couple Celine and Gordon Tang and its concert parties now hold 49.72 percent of the builder, which they are aiming to take private. Read more>>

Chip Eng Seng to Acquire Remaining 30% of Maldives JV for $1.3M

Chip Eng Seng will acquire the 30 percent stake it does not already own in a Maldives joint venture company for $1.3 million, the company announced Tuesday.

The JV, CES Tropical (Maldives), owns 99 percent of an entity that holds the leasehold interest in a lagoon located in North Male Atoll, Maldives. Chip Eng Seng plans to develop the lagoon into a five-star resort. Read more>>

Shareholders Should Reject Raw Deal Offered by Tangs: BT Columnist

A major shareholder is again trying to buy up an unloved listed property group at a discounted price. Gordon and Celine Tang are making an offer for Chip Eng Seng, with an eye to privatising it.

As a shareholder of CES, I intend to reject the offer because the price is too low. The couple’s Tang Dynasty Treasure made a final offer of S$0.75 cash per CES share. And the offeror will exercise its right of compulsory acquisition to buy up all the shares of CES if it hits the 90 percent shareholding mark. Read more>>

Singapore’s Condo, HDB Leasing Volumes Fall as Rentals Climb

Residential leasing volumes fell in Singapore for the month of November against rising rentals for condominiums and Housing and Development Board flats, which saw their 23rd and 29th straight months of rental increase, respectively.

According to flash estimates from SRX and 99.co on Wednesday, November condo rents rose 2 percent from the previous month and 34 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by contributions from the Outside Central Region, where rents grew 0.8 percent from October and 36.5 percent from year-earlier levels. Read more>>

Marina Gardens Lane GLS Site: Leap of Faith or First-Mover Advantage?

Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority recently launched a 99-year leasehold site along Marina Gardens Lane for tender under the Government Land Sales programme.

The outcome of the tender is highly anticipated because of the site’s prime downtown location, and it is the first of multiple sites that will be launched for tender in the Marina South precinct. Read more>>

Singapore’s Central Business District is Running Out of Office Space

The small island-state of Singapore wants to spread itself out more evenly by blurring the boundaries between where people go to work and where they live, shop and dine.

That can’t happen as long as most large offices want to crowd into the central business district. A new round in this decades-long tug-of-war is about to begin with billions of dollars of real estate investment at stake. Read more>>

Trump Firm Enters Office, Villa Segments in India

After luxury residential projects in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Kolkata, the Trump Organization and its Indian partner, Tribeca Developers, are exploring an entry into the luxury office and villa segments in India.

Donald Trump Jr, son of the former US president and the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said the company was returning to the Indian markets after six years because of his father’s four-year presidency and the two years lost because of COVID-19. Read more>>

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