FEC chairman and CEO David Chiu is parting with some Manchester projects
Hong Kong developers selling assets leads Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today with Far East Consortium parting with a pair of projects from its northern England holdings. South Korea makes the list with government moves to avert a real estate debt crisis and a REIT sponsored by Singapore’s CapitaLand finishes fixing up its Amsterdam server shed.
Hong Kong’s Far East Consortium Selling Pair of Manchester Projects
Hong Kong’s Far East Consortium International has agreed to sell two projects in the United Kingdom for GBP 17.24 million ($21.9 million) and expects to record a gain from the disposal of about GBP 220,000 from the sales.
The net proceeds from the sale of the pair of freehold projects in Manchester, England, will be used for general working capital, according to a filing on Wednesday, with the developer also pointing to a need to lower its gearing and increase liquidity. Read more>>
South Korea Acts to Avoid Hard Landing for Real Estate Sector
South Korean authorities unveiled measures on Monday (May 13) to support an “orderly soft landing” for real estate project-finance debt, as rising delinquencies in the sector threaten to be a drag on the economy.
The government will refine criteria used to evaluate the feasibility of real estate project finance sites, seeking to pinpoint which developments are no longer viable and should be sold off in a restructuring process, according to a joint statement by the nation’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service. Read more>>
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT Completes Amsterdam Data Centre Refurbishment
Singapore’s CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (CLAR) has completed a €19 million ($20.5 million) refurbishment of the Paul van Vlissingenstraat (PvV) data center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The company said its data hall has been expanded to accommodate 450 racks across 16,500 square feet (1,532 square metres), upgrading the site’s IT capacity from 1.4MW to 2.3MW. The refurbishment includes an additional 14,500 sq ft (1,350 sqm) of data hall space, available as either fully fitted or on a build-to-suit basis. Read more>>
Hangzhou Govt Pushes Forward Plan to Buy Homes From Developers
Authorities in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, are planning to buy homes and rent them at affordable rates, the first such move by a local government after the country’s top decision-makers pledged last month to reduce inventory and boost sales.
The Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of the technology hub’s Linan district said it would buy housing units and car parking spots. The units will not exceed 70 square metres (753 square feet) and the price will be based on the prevailing market rate, the bureau said in a notice on Tuesday. Read more>>
Khazanah, EPF Make Privatisation Offer to Malaysia Airports
A consortium led by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and pension fund provider Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced a conditional offer on Wednesday to acquire all remaining shares in Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) that it did not already own.
The consortium’s shareholders also comprise a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners, it said in a joint statement. The acquisition would have an offer price of 11 ringgit per share, implying an equity value of MYR 18.4 billion ($3.91 billion), and representing a 15.2 percent premium to the prevailing three-month volume weighted average price of MYR 9.55 per share, the companies said. Read more>>
CDL, MLT, MPACT Mauled After Removal From MSCI Index
City Developments Ltd, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust were among five Singapore-listed companies removed from the MSCI Singapore Index in a quarterly review revealed on Wednesday.
The heavyweight Singapore developer and the pair of Mapletree-sponsored REITs saw their stocks slide following the move, with CDL’s shares having lost more than 11 percent of their value so far this year, despite a buyback initiative. Read more>>
Singapore Boutique Hotel Back on the Market at $24.5M
The Sandpiper Hotel in Little India is back on the market via expression of interest with a lower indicative price of S$33 million ($24.5 million), exclusive marketing agent CBRE said on Wednesday (May 15).
The three-storey freehold property was previously put on the market in 2022 at a guide price of S$35 million. It has 31 guest rooms, a restaurant on the ground floor, and a basement. The new price translates to around S$1.06 million per key. Read more>>
Japan Economy Shrinks Again as Consumers Pull Back
The Japanese economy contracted in the first quarter of 2024 as growing inflation, driven in part by a weak yen, made domestic consumers hesitant to spend. Japan’s real gross domestic product shrank 0.5 percent in the three months to March from the previous quarter, government data showed Thursday, compared with economists’ forecast for a 0.4 percent contraction.
In the January-March period, the economy contracted 2 percent on an annualized basis, which reflects what would happen if the first-quarter pace continued for a full year. It was the third straight quarter of lackluster performance after the economy shrank in the third quarter of 2023 and was flat in the final quarter. Read more>>
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