Data Centre Player Global Switch Fishes for Buyers and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, a UK data centre operator’s Chinese owners consider selling out, a Korean sovereign wealth fund shakes up its leadership, and Hong Kong’s “Shop King” is sued over an unpaid debt.

Global Switch Owners Explore $11B Sale of Data Centre Player

The owners of Global Switch Holdings Ltd are exploring a sale that could value the London-based data centre operator at £8 billion ($10.9 billion) or more, people with knowledge of the matter said, potentially extending the list of major overseas investment disposals by Chinese investors.

Global Switch, controlled by Chinese steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang Group Co and backed by Avic Trust Co, is working with advisers to solicit interest from prospective suitors, said the people, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. Read more>>

Former Head of China Huarong AM Sentenced to Death

The former head of state-owned China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd was sentenced to death Tuesday for bribe-taking in one of the harshest punishments for economic crimes in recent years.

Lai Xiaomin, 58, was also found guilty by the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin of lesser charges, including corruption and bigamy. Read more>>

Tokyu Land Aims to Establish Global Fund and REIT Platform

Tokyo-headquartered real estate company Tokyu Land Corp (TLC) aims to establish a global fund and REIT platform, offering international investors the opportunity to invest in real estate outside of Japan.

Masaoki Kanematsu, operating officer in charge of overseas business for TLC, says: “We view our globalisation as an absolute necessity, as most exciting growth opportunities lie beyond Japan. Our present strategy is to leverage the rising affluence in Asia, and the steady economic growth in the United States, to aggressively expand our geographical footprint by acquiring and developing offices and apartments in those cities.” Read more>>

Korea’s KIC Reshuffles Leadership; New Real Estate Boss on the Way

Korea Investment Corporation has appointed new heads of alternative investment strategy and private equity in a senior management reshuffle carried out last week.

It was KIC’s first senior management shake-up since June, when the sovereign wealth fund reorganised its divisions and enhanced risk management, alongside the appointments of two deputy CIOs, James Jong-ho Kim and Hoon Lee. Kim took charge of the Alternative Investment Division and Lee the Investment Strategy Division. Read more>>

Hong Kong Shop King Sued for HK$265M Debt

Pine Active Care, which holds a 14.99 percent stake in elderly care home operator Pine Care, filed a charge against retail magnate Tang Shing-bor and his family members over an outstanding debt of HK$265 million ($34.2 million).

Tang Shing-bor — who is known in Hong Kong as the “Shop King” — and his son Tang Yiu-sing agreed to acquire 469 million shares of Pine Care for HK$773 million in February last year. Pine Active Care agreed that Tang Shing-bor and Tang Yiu-sing could repay by instalments over 18 months. Read more>>

Brookfield Leads $5.9B Bid to Take Listed Unit Private

Brookfield Asset Management and a group of investors have offered to acquire the stake in Brookfield Property Partners that they do not already own, in a $5.9 billion bid to take the real estate company private.

The Canadian alternative-asset manager said it made a proposal to acquire the outstanding units for $16.50 each, or about a 14 percent premium to last Thursday’s closing price in New York. Read more>>

India Investments by Brookfield and Blackstone Hit $20B Mark

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc and New York-based Blackstone Group have both reached the $20 billion investment milestone in India, as they continue to take long-term bets on real estate and other sectors.

Of the $20 billion that Brookfield has invested in India over the past decade, around $7 billion went into real estate, as the firm placed large bets on acquiring assets of property developers. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Keyestone Group Plans Hello Kitty Theme Park in Hainan

A private developer from Hong Kong, eyeing a gap in the family tourism market in China’s southernmost Hainan province, plans to build the first branded theme park to cash in on the tropical island’s popularity as a domestic and international tourism destination.

Keyestone Group plans to build a Hello Kitty theme park there, the second in China after Anji in eastern Zhejiang province, which opened in 2015. The complex, spread over 52 acres (21 hectares) in the provincial capital Sanya, will also include a 250-room luxury hotel and is estimated to cost RMB 4 billion ($620 million) when completed. Construction started last month and the park is set to open in the second half of 2024. Read more>>

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