Prime US REIT Buys San Diego Offices for $146M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Keppel-managed Prime US REIT acquires an office complex in sunny San Diego, debt-stricken developer China Evergrande scraps a planned special dividend, and CDL Hospitality Trusts broadens its mandate to include student housing and multi-family assets as the hotel market continues to suffer.

Prime US REIT Buys San Diego Office Complex for $146M

Singapore-listed Prime US REIT has acquired Sorrento Towers, a 296,327 square foot (27,530 square metre) office complex in San Diego, California from real estate investment company Shorenstein Properties for $146 million.

KBS said it serves as the US-based asset manager for the portfolio, with duties that include identifying and sourcing the asset on Prime US REIT’s behalf. Read more>>

Evergrande Nixes Special Dividend in Surprise Move

China Evergrande Group unexpectedly decided against declaring a special dividend after investors were spooked by news that banks and ratings companies are growing wary of the debt-laden developer.

The board chose to cancel the proposal less than two weeks after flagging it to investors. It took into consideration the current market environment, the rights of shareholders and creditors, and the long-term development of businesses, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. Read more>>

Pandemic Pushes CDLHT Into Student Housing, Multi-Family

CDL Hospitality Trusts is revising its principal investment strategy to include rental housing, student accommodation and senior housing assets, triggered by the pandemic’s severe impact on the hospitality sector.

The change in strategy is meant to diversify CDLHT’s tenant mix and provide more balanced and stable rental streams. The pandemic has also illustrated to its managers that traditional geographical diversification of a portfolio of hospitality assets has its limitations. Read more>>

Former Investa Boss Callaghan Takes Charge at Australia’s Cromwell

Cromwell Property Group has picked as its next chief executive Jonathan Callaghan, who previously led Investa, as the Brisbane fund manager regroups after a drawn-out dispute with its largest shareholder.

Callaghan stepped down from the top post at Investa only last month after 14 years at the firm, including as chief executive since 2016. He is to begin work at Cromwell no later than 1 January of next year. Read more>>

AXA IM Logs Into Biggest Forestry Deal in More Than a Decade

Investment house AXA IM has taken control of 24,000 hectares (59,305 acres) of pine plantations straddling the border between Victoria and South Australia in a A$775 million ($570 million) deal with US fund manager Global Forest Partners, the biggest timber transaction in the country for more than a decade.

The acquisition is the first investment in Australian forestry for AXA IM, which manages almost 60,000 hectares of plantations across France, Ireland and Finland. The deal illustrates AXA’s appetite for sustainability-themed investments as institutional investors worldwide align their portfolios to climate change issues. Read more>>

Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust Net Property Income Up 14.3%

Mall and office landlord Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust saw its first-quarter net property income lifted by contributions from a new asset in Japan, the manager said in an update on Monday.

Net property income grew 14.3 percent year-on-year, to S$78.3 million ($57.5 million now) for the three months to 30 June. Gross revenue rose 10 percent to S$103.0 million. Read more>>

Singapore’s SR-REIT Prices $37M Preferential Offering

ESR-REIT has priced its preferential offering at 40 Singapore cents per unit, to raise gross proceeds of up to S$50 million ($37 million).

In a bourse filing on Tuesday, the trust’s manager said the issue price represents a discount of 9.2 percent to the volume-weighted average price of 44.03 cents per unit of all trades done in the units on 26 July, up to the time the preferential offering was announced on 27 July. Read more>>

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