Warburg-Embassy Industrial JV Buys Bengaluru Site and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

India’s industrial real estate market continues to draw interest from international private equity players as a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and one of South Asia’s largest developers picks up a site in Bengaluru. Singapore also gets some headlines today as condo prices showed some spark in December despite mortgage growth in Southeast Asia’s financial capital falling by more than half during the first 11 months of the year. The details on all these stories and more await you below.

Embassy Industrial Parks Buys Bengaluru Site for $40M

Embassy Industrial Parks (EIP) has ventured into South India by acquiring a 60-acre land parcel in Bengaluru from real estate builder DRA Projects.

The firm will use the land to build 1.3 million sq ft of warehousing facility in the outskirts of Bengaluru with a total investment of Rs 288 crore ($40.5 million). EIP is a $250-million logistic platform floated by global private equity firm Warburg Pincus and real estate developer Embassy Group for setting up industrial parks. Read more>>

SG Condo Prices Edged Upwards in December

PRICES of completed private apartments and condominiums in Singapore edged up in December by 0.1 per cent from the previous month.

This is the first month-on-month price rise for such properties since August 2018, following a revised 0.5 per cent drop in November. Read more>>

Ascott REIT Boosts Distributions by 5%

Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) saw distribution per unit (DPU) rise 5 per cent year on year from 2.04 cents to 2.15 cents in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday morning (Jan 29).

This came as unitholders’ distribution went up 6 per cent to $46.5 million in Q4 from the previous year, which included a one-off partial distribution of divestment gain of $6.5 million. Read more>>

Keppel Land Selling Dong Nai Residential Project for S$136M

Keppel Corporation’s real estate arm Keppel Land will divest a 70% stake in Dong Nai Waterfront City LLC (DNWC) to Nam Long Investment Corporation (NLG) for $136m (VND2.31b), an announcement revealed.

DNWC which was granted the rights to develop a 170 ha township in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam is jointly held by Keppel Land and a joint venture partner. Keppel Land however is in the process of taking over the project through a demerger. DNWC also holds a 28 ha plot of land which is excluded from the proposed divestment. Read more>>

New World’s Cheng Family Eyes $2.3B Fuel Distributor

Hong Kong’s billionaire Cheng family, which controls a real estate and jewelry empire, is exploring a bid for European fuel supplier Varo Energy BV, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The companies have held talks about a deal that could value Varo Energy, backed by investors including Carlyle Group LP, at about US$2.3 billion (S$3.1 billion), including debt, according to the people. No final agreements have been reached, and there’s no certainty the negotiations will lead to a transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Read more>>

SG Mortgage Growth Slowed to 1.9% Jan-Nov

Rising interest rates and the latest round of property curbs have put the brakes on mortgage demand at Singapore’s banks, potentially further dragging down the city’s housing market.

Home loan growth slowed to 1.9 per cent in the first 11 months of 2018, less than half the 4.2 per cent increase posted in 2017, the latest Monetary Authority of Singapore data show. Mortgage growth will stay stuck below 2 per cent this year, according to Mr Diksha Gera, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Read more>>

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