IKEA Opens First India Store - Plans Two Dozen More

Not everything looks the same as it does back home in Sweden

India looms large in the region’s real estate world today as the subcontinent gets its first IKEA shop, and one of the country’s biggest landlords unveils a 1.1 million square metre lease just before it launches India’s first REIT with Blackstone. And in Southeast Asia, CapitaLand reports a boost in profit growth while Duterte vows to ban new casinos. Read on for all these stories and more.

IKEA Opens First India Store – Has Plans for 24 More

Curious customers lay on beds and nestled into armchairs as Ikea opened its first Indian store, hoping to attract a burgeoning middle class with offerings tweaked to local tastes, including a variation on its famous meatballs.

With an opening that featured a military band, the store in the southern city of Hyderabad is the first of 25 outlets the Swedish furniture company hopes to have open across the country of 1.25 billion people by 2025. Read more>>

JP Morgan Signs 1.1M SqFt Lease With India’s Embassy Group

India’s Embassy Group today announced that it has signed a long-term office lease deal with J.P. Morgan for space at Embassy TechVillage, Bengaluru. Embassy shall develop a 1,100,000 sq. feet built-to-suit facility in phases, with the first phase expected to be delivered by the first quarter of 2021.

Spread over 103 acres, Embassy TechVillage is a people-centric integrated business park with commercial, retail, hospitality spaces, and is located on the Outer Ring Road, the heart of Bengaluru’s IT corridor. Read more>>

CapitaLand Reports 4.4% Profit Growth

CapitaLand recorded a 4.4 per cent rise in net profit for its second fiscal quarter, lifted by contributions from newly acquired and opened investment properties in Singapore, China and Germany, as well as revaluation gains by its portfolio investment properties.

The gains were partially offset by lower portfolio gains and contribution from the group’s residential business, the real estate developer announced in a press statement yesterday before the market opened. Read more>>

Samsung SRA Launches UK Office Fund

Samsung SRA Asset Management has launched a debt fund targeting the UK office market. The fund received commitments of £170m (€190m) from mostly from Korean insurance companies in a first close.

Young Wuk Chai, Samsung SRA’s chief investment officer, told IPE Real Assets that the fund will provide senior and mezzanine debt on terms ranging from two to seven years. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Fung Strategic Holdings Invests $35M in Indian Retail Startup

ShopX, a B2B startup which connects retailers and kirana store owners in small towns with FMCG brands, has raised $35 million from Fung Strategic Holdings to fuel its expansion plans.

The funds will be used to strengthen ShopX’s products and engineering teams. The company also plans to strengthen its FMCG offerings and credit services. Read more>>

Duterte Shuts Down New Casino Deals

On Wednesday, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Duterte has ordered state regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to stop issuing casino licenses to new investors, several days after he fired the entire Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) board and management over a “flawed” casino land lease deal.

“There will be no casinos outside of what was existing,” Duterte said in a speech during the police service anniversary at the Philippine National Police headquarters, according to the news outlet. Read more>>

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