James Packer gives up half of his stake in Crown Resorts to Macao’s Melco
Casinos lead the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that Australia’s king of gambling has given up a $1.3 billion chunk of his business to the son of Macau’s Godfather of Gambling, while a major real estate investment company in Singapore hits a record $2.16 billion in profits.
In other news around the region, a Hong Kong property tycoon living in exile drops his legal challenge against extradition, while a notorious Malaysian fugitive tangles with the US judiciary over $45 million of luxury real estate.
Elsewhere, the Singapore government puts a rare piece of downtown up for sale, and a slice of the New York art scene is coming to Hong Kong.
James Packer Sells Half of Crown Stake to Macau’s Melco for $1.3B
Australian billionaire James Packer has sold nearly half his stake in Crown Resorts casinos to Lawrence Ho, son of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, for A$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion).
Packer’s investment company, Consolidated Press Holdings, said late on Thursday that the sale to Lawrence Ho’s Melco Resorts and Entertainment involved 19.99 per cent of Crown Resorts, bringing its holding in the group down to 26 percent. Read more>>
Jho Low Manoeuvring to Sell $45M Luxury Apartments Seized by US
Two luxury New York City condominiums that fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low is accused of buying with money stolen from a state investment fund are to be sold as part of US forfeiture lawsuits targeting the properties.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Low – whose full name is Low Taek Jho – and the US asked a Los Angeles federal judge to let them take the first step toward listing sales of the $31 million Time Warner penthouse at 80 Columbus Circle, which Low acquired in 2011, and a $14 million condo at 118 Greene Street that he bought in 2014. Read more>>
Fugitive Property Tycoon Drops Challenge to HK Extradition Bill
Fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung has withdrawn his application for a judicial review of the proposed extradition law amendments.
Sit, Fung, Kwong and Shum, the law firm representing Lau in the legal challenge application, said in a statement that the businessman hopes the action of withdrawing or discontinuing his application will be “conducive to reducing disputes in [Hong Kong] society”, adding that “it may also mean [Lau] has proffered his personal contribution”. Read more>>
Rare Singapore CBD Mixed-use Plot Up for Govt Tender
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday put a Bernam Street residential-with-commercial land parcel up for sale by tender, with about 75 more dwelling units, or 30 per cent higher than previously estimated under the first half 2019 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.
The site comes with commercial space on the first floor, and is on the GLS confirmed list. Read more>>
Mapletree Profit Hits S$2.16B in First Quarter
Mapletree Investments posted record net profit of S$2.16 billion ($1.57 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2019, up 10.3 percent from the previous year, the real estate group announced on Thursday.
Revenue was up 23.6 percent to S$3.95 billion, while recurring profit after tax and minority interests (Patmi) was up 11.5 percent to S$770.8 million. Read more>>
SG Govt Says Property Cooling Measures Have Worked
Singapore’s property cooling measures have achieved what they were meant to do, said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, but most analysts do not expect them to be lifted in the near future.
Mr Wong told Bloomberg that almost a year after intervening to stem soaring property prices, Singapore has stabilised the property cycle. The measures are now in their 11th month. Read more>>
New World Development Brings MoMA to Hong Kong
Hong Kong property developer New World Development is bringing a flagship store of New York’s The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to Hong Kong this year.
The 6,000 square foot (557 square metre) store, MoMa’s largest in Asia, is to open in August in K11 Musea, the retail part of Tsim Sha Tsui’s Victoria Dockside, which New World wants to develop as a culture and arts district. K11 Musea is expected to open in the third quarter this year. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.
Leave a Reply