Gaw Provides $38M Loan Backed by Kowloon Tower and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Private loans, falling share prices and other signs of stress lead today’s collection of real estate headlines from around Asia as Gaw Capital provides some pricey credit to a Hong Kong strata developer and New World Development deals with the fallout of delay bond payments. A data centre billionaire also makes the list with a plan for luxury condo project in Sydney.

Gaw Capital Provides Private Loan to Hong Kong Strata Developer

Gaw Capital Partners has provided a HK$300 million ($38 million) private loan to First Group Holdings backed by the Hong Kong developer’s Vita Green Town industrial project in Kowloon’s Lai Chi Kok area, according to a Bloomberg account citing sources familiar with the transaction.

First Group completed the most recent phase of its Vita Green Town last year with units in the building marketed for strata office ownership as Hong Kong’s office leasing market has continued a multi-year slide in the opening months of 2025. The developer had consolidated the project site in 2020 at a cost of HK$1.4 billion. Gaw Capital has made private credit a key part of its recent investment vehicles and has been actively loaning to distressed Hong Kong tycoons and enterprises. Read more>>

New World Shares, Bonds Tumble After Developer Delays Debt Payments

New World Development, a major Hong Kong property developer, saw its shares and bonds tumble on Monday after announcing it would defer coupon payments on its perpetual bonds, increasing concerns about its liquidity.

The market has been watching whether New World’s debt woes might be a harbinger of a sector crisis similar to the one in mainland China that started in 2021. New World, which has one of the highest debt ratios among its peers and also had two CEO changes last year, said on Friday it would defer coupon payments worth $77.2 million on four perpetual bonds scheduled for June. Read more>>

AirTrunk Boss Robin Khuda Buys Sydney Condo Site for $21M

Billionaire AirTrunk founder Robin Khuda has snapped up an apartment site overlooking Sydney’s famed Balmoral Beach with his private development company planning a luxury complex that will rival the area’s mansions with elevated views over Sydney Harbour.

His development company Ondas has forked out about A$32 million ($20.7 million) for an older block of flats on the site known as Azura, and Mr Khuda is expected to submit plans for a six-storey block with residences that will boast panoramic views. Read more>>

BlackRock-Backed GIP Teams Up with CP for Thai Data Centres

Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, better known as CP, and its True Corporation telecom unit last month announced a partnership with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners division to expand Thailand’s digital infrastructure and support the growth of global technology businesses.

CP said it expects the partnership to significantly accelerate the growth of True’s data centre division with the company aiming to deploy more than $1 billion to the sector over the next three to five years. Further details on the partnership were not provided. Read more>>

Philippine Hospitality Investment Firm Hotel101 Aims for $2.3B SPAC Listing on NASDAQ

Hotel101 Global Holdings together with a NASDAQ-listed special acquisition corporation (SPAC) said on Monday that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared effective Hotel101’s registration of a merger agreement that would provide a path to a NASDAQ listing for the hotel investment platform led by Jollibee heiress Hannah Yulo-Luccini.

Shareholders in JVSPAC Acquisition Corp are scheduled to vote on the proposed merger with Hotel101 at a meeting on 24 June with the deal valuing Hotel101 at $2.3 billion. Upon listing, the combined company would operate as Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp and trade under the ticker symbol “HBNB”. Once the SPAC process is complete, Hotel101, a subsidiary of Philippine-listed DoubleDragon Corporation, would be the first Filipino-owned company on NASDAQ. Read more>>

Singapore’s Wee Hur Sets Up $388M Bond Programme

Singapore-listed property investment firm Wee Hur Holdings said on Friday that it has established a S$500 million ($388.3 million) multicurrency medium term note programme with DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB) appointed to act as joint arrangers.

Wee Hur has yet to provide specific plans for issuing bonds under the programme with the company indicating that net proceeds from the notes will be used for its general corporate purposes, including refinancing of existing borrowings and financings of investments, acquisitions, general working capital or capital expenditures. Read more>>

Asia Pacific Land Announces 100MW Finland Data Centre

Fund manager APL Group said late last week that it will develop a 100MW data centre campus in Varkaus, Finland, over 300 kilometres (200 miles) from Helsinki.

Located on a 28-hectare site, the data center is designed to support up to 100 MW of capacity, with the first phase delivering 60 MW and with a planned 40 MW expansion to follow. The facility will span up to 75,000 square metres and benefit from Finland’s highly reliable energy infrastructure and low-risk grid environment, the company said. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Link REIT Expects More Aggressive Bargaining From Tenants

Hong Kong-based Link Asset Management expects more tenants to negotiate lower rents in the near term as it prioritises keeping its properties occupied, according to top executives at the company that manages Link Reit, Asia’s largest real estate investment trust.

While Hong Kong continued to suffer a retail slump, assets in Singapore and Australia performed better than expected, the company said on Tuesday as it reported revenue and profit increases for the financial year ended in March. Link is not ruling out acquiring properties in challenged markets including Hong Kong, added George Hongchoy Kwok-lung, executive director and group CEO. Read more>>

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