Evergrande boss Xu Jiayin has something to prove
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, heavily indebted developer Evergrande reportedly will repay a soon-to-mature bond early, South Korea’s IGIS Asset Management raises $200 million for European property investment, and China’s first REITs make their market debut with varied gains.
Evergrande to Repay $1.5B Bond Ahead of Schedule
China’s most indebted property developer, Evergrande Group, plans to repay its $1.47 billion offshore bond maturing next Monday this week, a source close to Evergrande said.
In recent weeks, some of the bonds of Evergrande and its subsidiaries have sold off amid rising investor concerns over the developer’s ability to make timely payments, pushing the yields on two separate 5.8 percent 2025 onshore bonds to above 29.5 percent from around 11.5 percent earlier in June, according to Refinitiv. Read more>>
Korea’s IGIS Wins Mandate for $240M in European Investments
South Korea’s Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA) has committed KRW 270 billion ($240 million) to a separately managed account (SMA) focusing on Europe’s real estate market, according to a local media report.
The SMA, managed by Seoul-based IGIS Asset Management, will diversify POBA’s office-oriented portfolio into life science buildings, student housing complexes and last-mile distribution centres in major cities across Europe, the Financial News reported last week. Read more>>
China’s First REITs Gain in Market Debut
China’s first batch of real estate investment trusts made their stock market debut on Monday with solid initial gains, as the nine REITs drew interest from Chinese retail investors.
All the newly listed REITs — five in Shanghai and four in Shenzhen — opened higher on Monday, but their performance varied hugely, as investors bet on potential land price gains in industrial park projects but showed tepid interest in highway assets. Read more>>
BitMEX Eyes Expansion in Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Center
BitMEX, which operates a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange out of the priciest office tower in Hong Kong, is embarking on a hiring spree and expanding its floor space in a show of confidence in the city, even as the industry faces heightened regulatory scrutiny.
The company, which claims to handle $1.7 billion worth of transactions a day, is exploring the option of leasing additional space equivalent to half a floor at Cheung Kong Center from CK Asset Holdings, according to several people familiar with the matter. Read more>>
Price Curbs on New Projects Boost Shanghai Used-Home Prices
A scarce supply of new homes in Shanghai and regulatory curbs have sparked a scramble among thousands of cash-rich buyers for high-end pre-owned flats in China’s financial hub, driving up the prices in the secondary market to record highs.
Some of the homebuyers, falling victim to new administrative measures to disqualify buyers and cool a red-hot property market, had to pay an extra million RMB to grab a pre-owned apartment in the city’s downtown areas. Read more>>
Proptech VC MetaProp Closes Oversubscribed $100M Fund
VC firm MetaProp announced the closing of its third real estate tech seed fund that, at $100 million, was oversubscribed. MetaProp Ventures III followed the $40 million second fund that closed in 2018.
According to the company, investors in the latest fund own and manage 20 billion square feet (1.86 billion square metres) of real estate and include previous investors PGIM, Mitsui Fudosan, CBRE, Bridge Investment Group, Cushman & Wakefield and JLL Spark. Read more>>
Singapore Minister Pushes for More Flexible Land Use
It’s important for Singapore to be adaptable in its city planning and to maintain a liveable and connected environment, as seen from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a key official.
The government will start engaging the public in July on the country’s long-term development plans, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said on Monday. Read more>>
Have Singapore Office Rents Bottomed?
Amid an improvement in business confidence, Singapore’s Grade A CBD office rentals posted their first uptick after five consecutive quarterly drops since the COVID-19 outbreak began, going by preliminary data from JLL.
The property consultancy estimates that the average monthly gross effective rental value of its Grade A CBD office basket has risen 1.2 percent to S$9.90 ($7.36) per square foot in the second quarter of this year from S$9.79 per square foot in the first quarter. Read more>>
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