Dasin Retail Trust Dumps ARA for Sino-Ocean and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A REIT management deal gone bust leads today’s roundup of regional news headlines, as Singapore-listed Dasin Retail Trust scraps a prospective sale with ARA Asset Management for control of the trust’s manager and 5 percent of the REIT’s equity in favour of a state-owned suitor, Sino-Ocean Capital Holding.

Also back in the news is HNA, which is headed for Hong Kong’s courts after defaulting on a luxury condo mortgage, while BlackRock has some green plans for Asia.

Dasin Retail Trust Dumps Sale to ARA, Teams With Sino-Ocean

Dasin Retail Trust’s trustee-manager announced on Monday that its chairman Zhang Zhencheng, as well as Aqua Wealth Holdings, has terminated a proposed sale and purchase agreement with two subsidiaries of ARA Asset Management made in April this year.

In a bourse filing, the trustee-manager also announced that Zhang has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to pursue a strategic partnership with Sino-Ocean Capital Holding, a real estate fund management company. Read more>>

HNA in Court for Default on $23M Hong Kong Luxury Apartment

HNA Group, China’s debt-laden conglomerate, has been taken to court in Hong Kong over failing to make repayments on a HK$180 million ($23 million) mortgage for a luxury apartment.

The group, which is undergoing a debt restructuring and faces some $187 billion in creditor claims, is one of four defendants being sued by lender Thing On Capital. Read more>>

BlackRock to Launch Green Infrastructure Fund in Asia

US investment giant BlackRock will launch a JPY 55 billion ($500 million) fund aimed at developing infrastructure for the transport of green energy in emerging markets, including renewable energy, Nikkei has learned.

The fund, which will be created in collaboration with government agencies and private financial institutions from Japan, Germany and France, will seek to encourage developing countries to accelerate initiatives to tackle climate change. Read more>>

Malaysia’s IOI Properties Eyes China for Growth

IOI Properties Group is looking at opportunities overseas for growth amid a slowdown in the property market as the country remains under lockdown. And China is its focus for now.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic has, to some extent, affected all three segments of the group, our geographical diversification with operations in Singapore and China has alleviated the impact,” IOI Properties CEO Datuk Voon Tin Yow tells The Edge. The group’s business consists of three main segments: property development, property investment, and hospitality and leisure. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Q2 Residential Land Tenders Set for Bidding War 

Hong Kong’s failure to provide sufficient land for private housing is expected to keep competition alive among small and medium-sized developers in this quarter’s land-sale programme, just as the city’s property market is turning rosy again.

The government will offer two parcels of land for public tender in the July to-September quarter, enough to provide only 200 flats in an under-supplied housing market. The plots at Kowloon Tong and Yuen Long could see keen bidding, with one analyst raising his valuation of the former piece by 36 percent amid bullish sentiment. Read more>>

Chinese Developers’ Woes Weighing on Asia’s Junk Bond Market

Financial strains among Chinese property developers are hurting the Asian high-yield debt market, where the companies account for a large chunk of bond sales.

Those pressures are widening a gulf with the region’s investment-grade securities, which have been doing well amid continued stimulus support. Read more>>

SG CBD Offices’ Net Demand Turns Positive, but Vacancies Rise Again

Full-year net demand for Grade A office space in Singapore’s central business district is likely to be up to six times that of 2020, says Cushman & Wakefield.

The forecast comes as net demand in the first half of this year turned positive at 68,000 square feet (6,317 square metres), going by data from the real estate consultancy. Read more>>

India Housing Sales Fell 23% in April-June From Previous Quarter

Housing sales declined 23 percent in the April-June quarter across seven cities compared with prior-quarter levels due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they rose 83 percent on an annual basis, according to JLL India.

In its latest report, the real estate consultancy said sales of residential properties stood at 19,635 units during the second quarter of this calendar year. Read more>>

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