Mirae Named Preferred Buyer for 3 US Warehouses and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Korean investors lead Asia’s real estate headlines again today as Mirae Asset Global Investments puts more of its cash into the US with Texas warehouse buy.

Also in the news, China state-owned developer Poly Global is losing some enthusiasm for the Aussie market as it backs out of an A$300 million Sydney acquisition and investors in Hong Kong found the IPO of KFC and Burger King’s China parent to be less than yummy.

Mirae Named Preferred Buyer for 3 US Warehouses

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. has been named the preferred negotiator to acquire three logistics centers in the US leased to American retail giant Amazon.

According to investment banking industry sources on Sept. 9, Mirae Asset was recently chosen as the preferred bidder to buy the three facilities from US real estate developer Scannell Properties Co. The Korean asset manager is known to have offered $17 million (200 billion won) for the properties. Read more>>

Poly Backs Out of A$300M Buy of Lendlease Sydney Project

One of China’s most voracious property developers Poly Global is shedding staff in Australia and has suddenly abandoned a late-stage deal with Lendlease, as tensions between the two countries escalate.

This week, after lengthy and advanced negotiations, Poly Corp abandoned talks with Lendlease about buying Bingara Gorge, a 200-hectare residential development and golf course in Sydney’s south-west. Read more>>

Yum China IPO Flops in Hong Kong

Yum China Holdings, the owner of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains in China, got off to a bumpy start in its Hong Kong trading debut when its stock became the first in a long while to open at a loss.

Shares of the Shanghai-based company began trading at HK$410, a slight discount to the HK$412 that they were offered at in their HK$17.27 billion (US$2.23 billion) secondary listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The stock fell by as much as 6.3 per cent to an intraday low of HK$386.20 in recent trading. Read more>>

Ascott Opens New Serviced Residence in London

CapitaLand’s wholly owned lodging business unit, The Ascott, has opened a 108-unit serviced residence in London’s Islington district.

Citadines Islington London sits on a piece of prime property Ascott acquired in 2016 through its serviced residence global fund with Qatar Investment Authority, Ascott said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 10). The serviced residence, delivered by real estate investment firm Cain International, is located in Islington Square, a new heritage site offering “eclectic” shops and cafes, it added. Read more>>

Lendlease to Build S$40m Development Centre in SG

International property group Lendlease on Thursday said it will set up a S$40 million product development centre in Singapore to accelerate the digital transformation of the property and construction sector.

Australia-based Lendlease said it will employ 50 software application developers in the first year and will continue to expand the team in the next few years. It added that it will seek out “top local tech talents” in Singapore, where at least one in five will be “aspiring graduates”. Read more>>

Iskandar and MCC SG Sign Deal for S$2.6B Johor Project

Danga Heights Development, a subsidiary of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH), has formed a joint venture with MCC Singapore, a subsidiary of Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), to co-develop Danga Heights.

Danga Heights is situated on 60ha of prime commercial land in Skudai, which is adjacent to Danga Bay and Skudai Highway, located about 15km away from Johor Checkpoint building. Read more>>

August New Home Sales Surge to 11-Month High

Pent-up demand continues to drive new home sales with 1,227 units sold in Singapore in August, an 11-month high with confident buyers pushing prices upwards amid worsening economic conditions and rising unemployment.

The high number of transactions surprised some because it was also the Hungry Ghost month, but it got an extra lift from Forett At Bukit Timah, a freehold development that was launched on Aug 8 – the first private residential project launch since the “circuit breaker” ended on June 1. A total of 212 units have been sold as of Aug 31. Read more>>

Mainland Developers Weigh Home Price Cuts

Country Garden 2007.HK, China’s top property developer, and smaller real estate firms are weighing offering bigger discounts on home buys after rival Evergrande 3333.HK unveiled its steepest ever discount this week, analysts and a source said.

Evergrande, China’s second biggest property developer, announced a nationwide 30% discount on all of its properties until the end of the week-long holidays in early October, a period that is traditionally China’s peak home buying season. Read more>>

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