Keppel Shareholder Return Leaps 49% and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Keppel Corp’s 2022 shareholder return handily outperforms the broader Singapore index, and agency OrangeTee & Tie is hit with a financial penalty over a 2021 data breach. Also in the news, Australia’s Lendlease is now fending off an activist investor and Vanke founder Wang Shi launches a private equity fund.

Keppel Delivers Total Shareholder Return of 49.3% Amid Transformation

Singapore’s Keppel Corporation delivered a total shareholder return of 49.3 percent for the whole of 2022, compared with the Straits Times Index’s 8.4 percent.

Also, Keppel’s total shareholder return reached 77.7 percent over a 15-month period from January 2022 to the end of March 2023, following the completion of the offshore and marine transactions and the distribution in specie of Sembcorp Marine shares to Keppel shareholders. Read more>>

OrangeTee & Tie Fined for Data Breach Involving 250,000 Customers, Employees

Real estate agency OrangeTee & Tie has been fined S$37,000 by Singapore’s privacy watchdog after the personal data of more than 250,000 customers and employees was compromised.

Names, bank account numbers, property transaction amounts and identity card numbers were extracted from outdated database servers by a cybercrime group in 2021. Read more>>

Lendlease Faces New Activist Shareholder in HMC Capital

Lendlease is facing a new activist investor on its register, with a wholesale fund run by HMC Capital taking a near 3 percent stake in the under-pressure Aussie developer.

Lendlease is being pushed to simplify its sprawling operations and exit businesses where it does not have an advantage over rivals, as investor concern about the souring commercial property environment rises. Read more>>

Retired Vanke Founder Wang Shi Launches Private Equity Fund

The retired founder of real estate giant China Vanke set up a private equity fund at the end of last year, demonstrating that the 72-year-old has no intention of slowing down as he branches into venture capital.

Destone Capital, which was formed in November 2022, was registered with the Asset Management Association of China on 11 April and is licensed to manage up to RMB 500 million ($72.7 million) in assets, according to the association’s website. Wang Shi, who is also honorary chairman at Shenzhen-based Vanke, holds a 94 percent stake in the fund through an investment vehicle that he owns. Read more>>

Katong Shopping Centre Up for En Bloc Sale Again at S$638M

Katong Shopping Centre, Singapore’s first air-conditioned mall when it opened in 1973, is being offered for collective sale at S$638 million ($479 million).

The freehold East Coast landmark in District 15 occupies a corner land plot of 86,924 square feet (8,076 square metres), with dual road frontage along both Mountbatten Road and Haig Road. Read more>>

Singapore Housing Rents to Soar Faster Than Hong Kong’s

Expatriates in Hong Kong and Singapore can expect higher rents this year, but the size of increase in both markets is likely to vary vastly because they will be impacted by different factors, according to market observers.

Analysts predict a rise of as much as 10 percent this year in Singapore, a sharp slowdown from the 30 percent surge seen in 2022, while rents in Hong Kong could increase by up to 5 percent, aided by the launch of the Top Talent Pass Scheme, return of non-local students and inflow of expatriates. Read more>>

Far East Orchard Expects Hospitality Business to Stabilise by 2024 or 2025

Far East Orchard expects its hospitality business to stabilise in the next two years after a gradual recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the company said Saturday.

Its operational priority is to grow its hospitality portfolio to 25,000 rooms by 2025 and to deepen its presence in Singapore, Australia and Japan, it said in response to questions from the Securities Investor Association Singapore ahead of its annual general meeting on Wednesday. Read more>>

Foreign Buyers ‘Big Players’ in Australia’s Q1 Housing Market: NAB

International buyers were the “bigger players” in the Australian housing market during the first quarter of this year, according to National Australia Bank.

The NAB Residential Property Survey found that the overall share of foreign buyers in new housing markets was 7.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. Although the overall share of foreign buyers rose, this was still below the average of 9 percent. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.