Li Ka-Shing’s Flagships Outperform and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, earnings at Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s flagship companies beat views, Singapore’s Ho Bee Land books a gain on a property divestment in Germany, and China’s property woes eat into insurer Ping An’s profits.

Li Ka-Shing’s Flagships Post Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Li Ka-shing’s two flagship companies reported better-than-expected earnings last year, as asset sales and revaluations on investment properties helped Hong Kong’s wealthiest man beat forecasts even amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

CK Hutchison Holdings, the conglomerate with businesses in everything from consumer products to ports and telecommunications, said its 2021 net profit rose 15 percent to HK$33.48 billion ($4.28 billion), beating the consensus estimate of 10 analysts in Bloomberg’s poll. Read more>>

Ho Bee Land Sells Munich Asset for a $49M Gain

Ho Bee Land on Thursday announced that it had recently divested a commercial property known as Elementum located in Munich, booking an estimated gain on its notes investment of some €44.8 million ($49 million) from the sale, according to preliminary information from Credit Suisse.

Back in March 2018, the company entered into an agreement with Credit Suisse (Singapore) whereby Ho Bee would invest up to €92 million through the acquisition of notes issued by a securitisation company called Clouse SA, Compartment 29. Read more>>

Ping An Posts 29% Profit Drop on China Property Woes

Ping An, China’s largest insurer, on Friday reported its biggest annual profit decline since 2008 as the country’s property market soured, but it said it expected such investment losses to ease in future.

Ping An said net profit fell 29 percent to RMB 101.6 billion ($16 billion) in 2021, down from RMB 143.1 billion the previous year, as it recorded impairment losses totalling RMB 43.2 billion linked to investments in troubled China Fortune Land Development. Read more>>

China Land Sales Plunged in Jan-Feb Despite Easing Measures

China’s land sales revenue slumped from a year earlier, official data for January-February showed on Friday, pointing to continued weakness in the country’s huge property market, a major economic growth driver.

The country’s government land sales revenue fell 29.5 percent year-on-year to RMB 792.2 billion ($124.5 billion) in the first two months of 2022 after a 2.16 percent increase in December. Read more>>

Quarz Asks Singapore’s MAS to Intervene in Mapletree REIT Merger

Activist fund manager Quarz Capital Management has sent a letter to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, asking the latter to ensure that the manager of Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust fulfils its fiduciary duty to unitholders of the REIT.

MNACT and sister REIT Mapletree Commercial Trust had on 31 December proposed a merger of both REITs. The merger has been criticised by unitholders on both sides. Read more>>

CapitaLand, Frasers Hospitality Keep Calm on Shenzhen Lockdown

CapitaLand Investment and Frasers Hospitality don’t expect a major impact to their businesses in Shenzhen after a spike in COVID-19 cases prompted the Chinese government to implement a lockdown of the tech hub.

CapitaLand Investment operates integrated development Raffles City Shenzhen — which features retail, office and hospitality components — as well as another office property and two lodging properties in the Chinese city. All in all, there are three serviced apartments currently operating under the Ascott and Somerset brands. Four more serviced apartments are in the pipeline to open this year. Read more>>

Hong Kong Developer Wheelock Remains Optimistic on Housing Market

Hong Kong developer Wheelock Properties expects to shrug off headwinds and remains optimistic about the city’s home prices recovering 5 percent this year if COVID-19 eases.

“When the pandemic fades, I believe home prices may recover gradually from the bottom, because buying power is accumulating in the market,” Ricky Wong, the developer’s managing director, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday. Read more>>

Limits on Strata Properties in Central Singapore Seen as an Upgrade

Improved tenant mixes, curated offerings for shoppers, well-maintained malls and fewer vacant units could be in store for the Orchard Road shopping belt and retailers in Singapore’s central business district, as a result of a new restriction on strata properties.

Real estate consultants welcomed the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s latest policy move prohibiting commercial properties in key parts of the Central Area to be strata subdivided into individual units, as it is expected to largely benefit the retail scene. Read more>>

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