GLP CEO Said Joining CIC Buyout Bid

GLP boss Ming Z Mei is said to be joining CIC’s bid to buy out the warehouse developer

The region is back to work this week after a long lunar new year break and the real estate stories are getting fast and furious once again. The mystery of which takeover bid for GLP was being backed by the warehouse developer’s CEO appears to have been solved down in Singapore, while in Hong Kong heavyweight Henderson Land is said to be selling a hotel in Kowloon East while New World’s chairman has big plans for London. Read on for all these stories and more.

GLP CEO Said Joining CIC Buyout Bid

Chinese dealmaker Fang Fenglei won backing from Global Logistic Properties Ltd’s chief executive officer as he pursues a takeover of the $9.1 billion warehouse owner, which could become the biggest Asian buyout deal, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Fang’s Beijing-based private equity firm, Hopu Investment Management, submitted an offer for the Singapore company together with Hillhouse Capital Management and GLP CEO Ming Mei, according to the people. Blackstone Group LP and an investor group led by Warburg Pincus also made non-binding bids, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Read more>>

Henderson Land Selling Kowloon Hotel for HK$2.3B

Henderson Land Development has agreed to sell a hotel in Kwun Tong for HK$2.3 billion, according to sources with knowledge of the transaction.

Newton Place Hotel, which has 598 guest rooms, began business in July 2007 and is one of four Newton hotels owned by Henderson. The deal translates to about HK$3.8 million per room. Henderson was unavailable for comment. Read more>>

New World’s Henry Cheng Plans $1 Bil London Project

Henry Cheng Kar-shun, chairman of Hong Kong’s New World Development, has committed to invest £1 billion to develop a mixed property project in London, becoming the biggest single Chinese investor in Britain after the country’s vote to leave the European Union.

The project will comprise 800 apartment units, office space and 500 hotel rooms totalling 1.4 million square feet, sitting atop a complex that will house a bus station, cinemas, bars and shops, according to information provided by Cheng’s company Knight Dragon. Read more>>

$75 Bil in Chinese Cross-Border Investments Failed in 2016

Chinese overseas deals worth almost $75bn were cancelled last year as a regulatory clampdown and restrictions on foreign exchange caused 30 acquisitions with European and US groups to fall through.

The figures, which reveal a sevenfold rise in the value of cancelled deals from about $10bn in 2015, highlight a waning appetite for global dealmaking by the world’s second-largest economy. But despite more deals being abandoned, the analysis by law firm Baker McKenzie and researcher Rhodium shows that Chinese direct investment into the US and Europe still more than doubled to a record $94.2bn in 2016. Read more>>

Thai Residential Developer Plans Two China Sales Offices

Thailand-listed property firm Sansiri plans to open two new sales offices in China – in Shenzhen and Guangzhou – and expand into Japan and the Middle East, especially Dubai, to drive the value of purchases from foreign buyers to Bt7.5 billion this year.

Currently, the company has two sales offices overseas, in Beijing and Shanghai.

“We have an aggressive marketing policy to drive our sales from foreigners interested in expanding their investment or staying in Thailand. We recorded sales to foreign buyers worth Bt5.4 billion in 2016,” Sansiri president Srettha Thavisin said in a recent interview with The Nation. Read more>>

SG Prime Office Rentals Fell 16.8% in Q4 Says Colliers

According to Colliers International, CBD Premium and Grade A office rents have declined 16.8% YoY in 4Q16, down 11% since the last peak in 2Q15.

This came as occupancy in the said areas fell to 93%, led by the decline in Sheton Way, Bugis/Beach Road, and Marina Centre/City Hall. This reflects a tepid demand, Colliers said. “We estimate net absorption in the CBD Premium and Grade A space of 449,000 sq ft. in 2016,” it noted. Read more>>

Cambridge Industrial Trust Selling SG Property for $15.5M

Singapore-listed industrial REIT, Cambridge Industrial Trust, will dispose a property at 55 Ubi Avenue 3 for SGD22.1 (USD15.5 million) to an undisclosed buyer.

The property, a five-storey light industrial building with approximately 141,135 square feet of gross floor area, has remaining land tenure of approximately 39 years. According to a statement issued by the REIT on 23 January, the divestment originated from an unsolicited enquiry on the property. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.