Malaysian Funds Buy London’s Battersea for $2.2B and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Leading today’s news roundup, a pair of Malaysian state-backed funds are buying London’s Battersea Power Station regeneration project in one of Britain’s biggest-ever property deals. Again. Speaking of the UK, a Shanghai-headquartered private equity firm just got the go-ahead to develop flats in England’s second-largest city.  And there’s an update on troubled mainland conglomerate HNA below, if you just keep reading.

Malaysian Funds Buy London’s Battersea Power Station for $2.2B

Two Malaysian state-backed funds have said they will buy Battersea Power Station and help bail out the struggling restoration project in a deal that values it at around £1.6 billion (around $2.2 billion) – making it the biggest property deal carried out in the UK.

The terms of the deal value it ahead of the UK’s biggest ever property transaction, the £1.28bn sale of the ‘Walkie Talkie’ skyscraper in the City last year, which was acquired by a Hong Kong firm. Asset management group Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), which has £50bn of assets under management, plans to buy the building with pension fund Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia, which controls the private sector pension pot. Read more>>

Shanghai’s PGC Capital Gets Green Light for UK Flat Scheme

Shanghai-based PGC Capital has been granted planning permission for a 517-flat scheme in Birmingham. The scheme, at 75-80 High Street in Digbeth, is the developer’s second in the city.

Construction is expected to start mid-2018. Corstorphine + Wright designed the scheme; PGC Capital will act as development manager. The project will be known as Lunar Rise in recognition of the city’s Lunar Society, a group of 19th century polymaths. The tallest of its three blocks will rise to 25 storeys. Read more>>

HNA Claims It Can Cope with Cash Crunch

HNA Group chairman Chen Feng has expressed confidence that China’s aviation-to-financial services conglomerate will manage its cash crunch, and continue to receive support from banks and other financial institutions this year.

The liquidity problem exists “because we made a big number of mergers”, even as the external environment became more challenging and China’s economy “transitioned from rapid to moderate growth”, impacting the group’s access to new financing, Chen told Reuters in a rare meeting. Read more>>

CapitaLand Eyes Prime Mega-Development in Wuhan

Following a major reconstitution of its China shopping mall portfolio, CapitaLand is eyeing expansion opportunities under its “core city clusters, dominant assets” strategy. Through its wholly owned subsidiary CapitaLand China, CapitaLand today signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the district government of Wuchang in the city of Wuhan.

The MoU sets out the general principles of collaboration between CapitaLand and the district government in developing a prime site in Wuchang. The potential scale of the proposed integrated development in the capital of Hubei Province is expected to surpass all CapitaLand’s existing properties in central China. Read more>>

Cambodian PE Firm Invests $1.8M in Property Ads Platform

Mekong based private equity firm Belt Road Capital Management (BRCM) recently invested $1.8 million into Digital Classifieds Group (DCG), the Australian based classifieds group behind Realestate.com.kh.

The capital injection will be used to expand DCG’s operations in Cambodia and abroad. Alex Odom, BRCM’s Chief Investment Officer, said in a press release that the investment will play a role in building up the local real estate sector and helping it attain international standards. Read more>>

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