Mapletree Sells Japan Offices to Commercial REIT for S$483M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore’s Mapletree Investments leads today’s real estate news in the region as it announces a helping hand for one of its affiliated REITs, which is suffering a shaky patch in Hong Kong, by selling a pair of its Tokyo office assets to the listed trust.

In other news around the region, WeWork is setting bold sales targets for 2020, a South Korean financial company has completed the acquisition of the largest building in Germany for $1.1 billion, and a China-focused commercial REIT is said to have raised $327 million in a public offering.

Mapletree Sells Pair of Tokyo Area Office Buildings to Commercial Trust for S$483M

The manager of Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust announced on 4 December that it had conditionally agreed to acquire an effective interest of 98.47% in two freehold, multi-tenanted office properties Japan’s Greater Tokyo area from Mapletree Investments for S$482.5 million.

Ms. Cindy Chow, Chief Executive Officer of the Manager, said, “A key focus for the Manager is to continue to accelerate the income diversification of MNACT through acquisitions. The proposed acquisition of the two office towers in Greater Tokyo will contribute to the diversification of MNACT and at the same time, reduce the income and asset concentration of Festival Walk.” Read more>>

WeWork China Said Targeting $500M in Sales Next Year

WeWork China has set out ambitious revenue goals for 2020 even though it faces staff cutbacks and weak occupancy numbers at its properties across China, sources familiar with the matter said, citing targets announced by the division’s general manager at an internal meeting in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Alan Ai told employees at the meeting that the firm has set a goal to bring in non-core revenue of around $30 million in the year 2020 and for non-core revenue to account for more than 6 percent of its total takings in the country, the sources said. The revenue targets for the China division disclosed at the staff meeting suggest that the company could be looking to achieve as much as $500 million in revenue from China next year. Read more>>

Hong Kong Flat Sales Hit 15-Year High As Developers Slash Prices

Homebuyers spent HK$214 billion ($27.3 billion) on more than 20,000 new flats in the first 11 months of the year, the most since 2004, as developers rushed to offload stock because of the impending vacancy tax and uncertain market outlook, according to Ricacorp Properties.

The average flat price fell 26.8 percent to HK$10.67 million this year after having risen for three straight years to a record HK$14.59 million in 2018, as nearly six months of protests have hurt sales, according to the property agency. Read more>>

Hana Closes $1.1B Purchase of German Office Complex from Blackstone

Hana Financial Investment closed on the KRW 1.3 trillion ($1.1 billion) purchase of Germany’s largest office complex in Frankfurt from the Blackstone Group, continuing its buying spree in Europe’s commercial real estate market.

For the acquisition, it teamed up with London-based AGC Equity Partners and anted up KRW 270 billion each in equity investment, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The remainder of the cost was borrowed from banks. Read more>>

China Merchants Commercial REIT Said to Raise $372M

China Merchants Commercial real estate investment trust (REIT) has raised $327.2 million in a public offering in Hong Kong, after pricing the deal at HK$3.42, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The transaction ends a six-year listing drought for REITs in Hong Kong, which have increasingly turned to the Singapore Stock Exchange as their primary listing base. Read more>>

Straits Trading to Buy Aussie Property for A$24M

The Straits Trading Company announced after trading hours on Wednesday that the Trust, an indirect 80 per cent-owned subsidiary of Straits Real Estate, is acquiring a mixed-use office and industrial property located in Mulgrave, Victoria for A$24 million ($16 million).

The property is a multi-tenanted mixed-use office and industrial property with a total net lettable area of 12,157 square metres located approximately 21 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne Central Business District. Read more>>

Blackstone’s 2nd Aussie Build-to-Rent Under Way

Blackstone, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, is set to bolster its investment in the fledgling build-to-rent sector in Australia, revealing it has a second project in Melbourne in the works.

Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate which has $157 billion of assets under management said that in just about every market Blackstone invested in the demand for high quality, institutionally managed rental housing was growing. Read more>>

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