GuocoLand Selling Johor Hotel for $36M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Hotels lead Mingtiandi’s look at real estate news from around the region today, with Singapore’s GuocoLand selling a 381-room asset just across the Malaysian border and Japan’s Ichigo completing the purchase of a 345-room property. Also making the list are some offers for Bain’s China data centres and a Malaysian developer selling a long-planned London project.

GuocoLand Selling Johor Hotel to YTL Group for $36M

Singapore-listed developer GuocoLand announced to the stock exchange on Monday that it has agreed to sell a hotel in Johor Bahru to Malaysian hospitality firm YTL Hotels & Properties for MYR 150 million ($35.5 million).

The 381-room Thistle Johor Bahru hotel has a net book value of MYR 93 million and is located within a 10-minute drive of Malaysia’s border with Singapore. The hotel occupies a 24,040 square metre (258,764 square foot site). Read more>>

Ichigo Hotel REIT Completes Acquisition of 345-Room Toyama Asset

Ichigo Hotel REIT announced to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday that it has completed its acquisition of the 345-room Hotel Enoe Toyama after first announcing the purchase on 28 July.

The trust managed by Japan’s Ichigo Group purchased the property on the western coast of Honshu Island from an unrelated third party as one of two deals announced at the end of July, with the REIT’s portfolio now including 31 hotels. Read more>>

Bain Capital Said to Draw Chinese Bidders for $4B Chindata Portfolio

The China data centre business owned by Bain Capital’s Chindata Group has drawn interest from local bidders seeking to expand in the sector to tap a boom in artificial intelligence, according to people familiar with the matter.

Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group, a Chinese data centre services provider mulling a second listing in Hong Kong, is among firms that have recently submitted binding bids for the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Read more>>

Malaysia’s Eastern & Oriental Sells London Hotel and Office Project for $101M

A unit of Kuala Lumpur-listed Eastern & Oriental has proposed to sell two freehold land parcels in London’s Hammersmith area to Varsity Capital 1 Propco Ltd for a minimum cash consideration of £75 million ($101.4 million) after having purchased the site for £57 million in 2015.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia last week, E&O said the proceeds from the proposed disposal will be used for potential property development and investment opportunities or, alternatively, to repay the group’s existing borrowings. Read more>>

Lendlease Cancels Meeting With Investors in $6.5B Fund Platform as LPs Lose Faith

Lendlease has cancelled a critical meeting designed to stave off an investor revolt across its A$10 billion ($6.5 billion) wholesale property platform after some major super funds indicated that they would reject the proposals.

Major industry fund Hostplus has been leading a push to dump Lendlease as the manager of three unlisted commercial property funds it runs — holding shopping malls, logistics facilities and office towers — and replace it with rival fund manager Mirvac. Read more>>

China Top Developer Home Sales Dropped 18% in August From a Year Earlier

China’s home sales extended their slump in August even as prices declined and the country’s two biggest cities rolled out additional stimulus measures.

The value of new home sales from the 100 largest property companies stood at RMB 207 billion ($29 billion), according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp on Sunday. The reading marks a 17.6 percent drop from a year earlier and follows a 24 percent slump in July. Sales have fallen for six straight months. Read more>>

Chinese Developer Seazen Turns to Tokenisation to Boost Borrowing

Chinese builder Seazen Group plans to issue tokenised private debt by the end of the year as part of a foray into the Hong Kong government’s favoured digital asset space.

The Shanghai-based developer, one of the few to avoid default during the country’s prolonged property crisis, unveiled its strategy to explore such assets on Friday. It expects to establish a digital asset management unit and launch non-fungible token products related to its Wuyue Plaza investment properties by the end of the year. Read more>>

CoStar Completes $2B Acquisition of Australia’s Domain

Real estate information provider CoStar Group has completed its $2 billion purchase of Domain Holdings Australia, which holds the second-largest real estate website Down Under.

CoStar first announced its plan to buy out the ASX-listed company in May with support of then-largest shareholder Nine Entertainment. The deal gives CoStar an Aussie brand alongside its presence in Britain, Europe and North America. Read more>>

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