Leading today’s Hong Kong real estate news, cash-strapped HNA is said to be in talks with developers including Sun Hung Kai Properties for a loan of up to $2 billion. Also in the headlines, banks’ loans to property developers rose by 28 percent last year. All these stories and more await you, if you just keep reading.
HNA Seeks Up to $2B in Loans from Developers for Kai Tak Site
HNA has entered talks in recent weeks with several developers led by Sun Hung Kai Properties and a number of other investors to secure $1.5 billion to $2 billion in loans that would be collateralised by its land holdings at the site of Kai Tak.
HNA hopes to borrow cheaply because of the high value of the Kai Tak site and is seeking an interest rate as low as 8 percent, far below the market level. Read more>>
Bank Loans to Developers Rose by 28% in 2017
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that total loans granted last year by local banks to property developers was HK$150 billion ($19.2 billion), 28 percent higher than the level in 2016.
The Hong Kong’s de facto central bank added that it has enhanced surveillance of banks’ credit risk exposures to major corporations, including companies from the mainland. Read more>>
Sun Hung Kai Launches HK$20M Mobile App Project to Boost Retail
Sun Hung Kai Properties launched a mobile app, which offers services like restaurant reservation and parking assistance in its 26 malls. Approximately HK$20 million ($2.6 million) was invested in the project.
There are now more than 140 tenants participating in the project offering around 400 promotions to the app’s users. The first phase of the project will cover 11 malls. Read more>>
Fo Tan Industrial Building Unit Selling for HK$80M
A unit in Fo Tan Industrial Centre on 26 Au Pui Wan Street in the New Territories has been put on the market for an asking price of HK$80 million ($10.2 million), or HK$9,242 ($1,181) per square foot.
The 8,565 square foot (796 square metre) industrial unit has recently been leased for HK$150,000 ($19,181) a month. Average rent is HK$17 ($2.2) per square foot. Read more>>
IFC Apple Store Employees Hospitalised After iPhone Battery Encounter
Two employees at a Hong Kong Apple Store were taken to hospital on Friday following another battery-related incident, according to reports, with the pair said to have inhaled smoke generated by an iPhone battery while undertaking an in-store repair of a customer’s device.
Emergency services were summoned to the Apple retail outlet based in the International Finance Center mall, reports the South China Morning Post. Store employees managed to extinguish the battery before it could cause more harm than emitting smoke, and before emergency personnel arrived at the scene, with the containment meaning there was no need to evacuate the store. Read more>>
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