GIC Leads Race to Buy Stake in Indian Developer and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund is said to be leading the race to buy a 40 percent stake in an Indian commercial developer for around $1.8 billion, while elsewhere in the headlines Dalian Wanda returns to its hometown in China’s frozen north to convert an abandoned rock quarry into its latest theme park. Read on for all these stories and more.

GIC Leads Race to Buy Stake in Indian Commercial Developer

GIC of Singapore is set to enter into exclusive bilateral negotiations with KP Singh and his family, the promoters of India’s largest real estate firm DLF Limited, to acquire their 40% stake in DLF Cyber City Developers Limited (DCCDL), the company that owns a portfolio of leased commercial assets, including the entire Cyber City complex in Gurgaon.

The deal will help the promoters raise about Rs 12,000 crore, valuing the rental arm at nearly Rs 40,000 crore, inclusive of its Rs 10,000-11,000 crore debt, said two persons familiar with the negotiations. Read more>>

Wanda Plans to Turn Abandoned Rock Quarry into Theme Park

An abandoned limestone mine in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, will be built into a tourism complex by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co, an official with the Dalian municipal government said on Monday.

Construction of the project will kick off within this year, said Dalian Tourism Bureau Director Li Jingping. Covering an area of three square kilometers, the project will include a hotel cluster featuring parts of the old limestone mine, a big-sized botanical garden in the pit, a stadium with capacity of 60,000 seats and a Wanda shopping mall. Read more>>

Xiaomi Plans 1,000 Real World Stores

China to reach the top of the smartphone market, Xiaomi Corp. is turning to old-fashioned retail to arrest its slide.

The phonemaker will roll out a chain of about 1,000 brick-and-mortar stores under the Mi Home banner over the next three years, as co-founder Lei Jun mimics a strategy that’s helped the Oppo and Vivo brands leapfrog Xiaomi to the top of China’s smartphone market. The new target accelerates plans outlined just last month to open 200 stores in 2017. Read more>>

Shanghai Home Sales Rebound After Spring Festival

Sentiment among home buyers and real estate developers both rebounded notably in Shanghai last week as the week-long Lunar New Year holiday came to an end.

Sales of new residential properties, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, soared to 78,000 square meters during the seven-day period ended on Sunday, a week-over-week surge of 503 percent, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report released today. Read more>>

Swire Set to Open 1000 Mainland Bake Shops in 3 Years

Swire Pacific plans to almost double the size of the retail outlets of its bakery business by 2020, making it one of the biggest bakery chains in China.

As the demand for better quality food products grows in China, Swire will increase the number of its bakery shops in Chongqing, Chengdu and Guiyang to 1,000 within three years, through Swire Foods – a wholly owned subsidiary of the group launched in 2010 and encompassing the Taikoo brand. Read more>>

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