Lee Yeow Seng, CEO of Malaysia’s IOI Properties, is going it alone on Central Boulevard
At the top of today’s news, Malaysia’s IOI Properties is poised to go it alone on a prime office project in Singapore’s Marina Bay, after HongKong Land apparently passed on it opportunity to share the prime commercial site. And the Lion City’s addiction to collective sales remains unabated, as the owners of a downtown electronics mall are angling to bag $840 million by selling it en bloc, according to a report. Elsewhere around the region, China’s Wanda is facing further setbacks as key executives in its film empire step down, and property brokerage JLL gets some recognition for its 2017 deals. All these updates await you below.
IOI Drops Hongkong Land from Central Boulevard Project
It looks like Malaysia’s IOI Properties will remain solely responsible for the mixed-use development in Singapore’s prime business district, after terminating the agreement with Hongkong Land to jointly develop and manage the project. IOI Properties had said that the termination will not impact the development of the Central Boulevard site and that it is confident of completing the project.
The termination of agreement with Hongkong Land was due to “non-fulfilment of certain conditions precedent”, IOI Properties explained in a regulatory filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, including obtaining Additional Conveyance Duties Remission approval, URA approval and lenders’ approval. Read more>>
Singapore’s Sim Lim Square Asks for $840M in En Bloc Sale
Popular IT mall Sim Lim Square is attempting to go en bloc following a second extraordinary general meeting that concluded successfully on Monday, revealed marketing agent SLP International Property Consultants. According to the Straits Times, the owners are reportedly asking for a whopping S$1.1 billion ($840 million).
This makes the building, which was completed in 1987, Singapore’s first full commercial prime city centre en bloc sale. Close to 60 percent by share value of the owners attended the meeting, of which an overwhelming 86 percent and 97 percent voted in favour of both the apportionment and collective sale agreement. Read more>>
Wanda Wobbles in Movie World as Key Execs Exit
Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group was hit with the simultaneous resignations of two key executives from its film divisions last week, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Jiang Defu, general manager of Wanda Pictures, and Que Wenxiong, general manager of Wuzhou Film Distribution, both abruptly resigned last Friday. Wanda Pictures is Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin’s flagship Chinese film production outfit, while Wuzhou is the group’s local film distribution arm.
Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment, Wanda’s US-based theater circuit, announced in a filing Tuesday that its chairman, Lincoln Zhang, has resigned from the board. AMC said Zhang is stepping down so he can take on new responsibilities at the Wanda parent company in Beijing. Read more>>
JLL Named Top APAC Brokerage in 2017 with $27B in Trades
JLL has been named number one real estate investment advisory firm in Asia Pacific for the seventh consecutive year by Real Capital Analytics (RCA), an independent body that monitors real estate transaction volumes worldwide.
According to RCA, JLL has achieved the highest value of investment deals in Asia Pacific, a total of US$26.8 billion in 2017, accounting for 29.8 percent of total market share. Out of the seven asset types included in the ranking, JLL took the top spot in five categories – office, retail, apartment, development site and hotel. Read more>>
Asian Investors Chalk up the Most Hotel Deals in UK Last Year
Overseas investors drove a 32-percent boost in UK hotel transactions in 2017, pushing transactions to a total of £5.4 billion. Savills data show overseas investors accounted for 51 percent of total volumes, spending close to three times the total spent in 2016 thanks to the weakened pound.
US and European investors had the most investment activity last year, spending £682 million and £763 million, respectively. Asia-Pacific investors were the most active in terms of deal count. Buyers from the region performed a total of 20 acquisitions valued at £446 million in 2017. Singaporean investors led activity for the region last year, spending £315.3 million in 15 transactions. Meanwhile, Indian investment picked up speed with six transactions totaling £28.9 million. Read more>>
Mainland Property Investment Growth Jumps to 3-Year High
China’s property investment growth jumped to a three-year high in the January to February period, as local governments pushed ahead with construction projects, according to analysts.
Property investment jumped 9.9 percent during the two-month period on year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. This is the strongest growth since the January to February period in 2015. Residential property investment was up 12.3 percent, the fastest pace since August 2014. Read more>>
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