Mirae Selling Chicago Office Tower for $225M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A Chicago office block leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that a South Korean investor is offloading the 31-storey property for $225 million – just $7 million more than its acquisition price in 2013.

In other news around the region, another Korean deal could fall victim to the coronavirus, as bankers reportedly lose faith in a $5.8 billion buyout of Anbang’s US hotel portfolio, and in Singapore, unitholders have approved the S$1.58 billion ($1.13 billion) merger of a pair of Frasers REITs, and media group turned real estate investor has kicked off a $16 million revamp of a set of student housing properties in the UK.

Mirae Selling Chicago Office Tower for $225M

Spear Street Capital has agreed to pay Mirae Asset Global Investments nearly $225 million, or $346 per square foot, for the 31-storey tower at 225 W. Wacker Drive, sources familiar with the deal said.

The pending sale is only slightly higher than the $218 million that South Korean real estate firm Mirae Asset Global Investments paid for the building in 2013. Read more>>

Virus Fears Could Knock Out $5.8B Anbang Hotel Sale

Anbang Insurance Group Co.’s sale of a $5.8 billion portfolio of U.S. luxury hotels to South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. is at risk of collapsing, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

After a lender group led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. failed to garner sufficient investor demand for roughly $4 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities to finance the transaction, talks shifted to the provision of a similar amount in bridge financing in an attempt to keep the deal alive, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Read more>>

Unitholders Approve S$1.58B Merger of Frasers REITs

Frasers Logistics & Industrial Trust (FLT) unitholders have voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger between FLT and Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT).

The merger, first proposed in December last year, would be by way of a trust scheme of arrangement and would cost S$1.58 billion ($1.13 billion). Read more>>

China Says Will Not Use Property to Jumpstart Economy

China’s central bank said on Wednesday that the property sector will not be used as a means of short-term stimulus to jumpstart the economy, adding that financing policies for the sector will be consistent and stable.

A prudent monetary policy will be more flexible while liquidity will be kept reasonably ample, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement summarizing remarks from a meeting on Tuesday with the finance ministry and the banking and insurance regulator. Read more>>

Hong Kong Property Investment Nears Complete Stop

Investments in Hong Kong’s real estate are almost at a standstill, as the global coronavirus outbreak exacerbated the slumping sentiment from half a year of anti-government protests and the ongoing US-China trade war.

February’s transactions declined 13 percent from last year to 3,572 deals, the lowest monthly tally in four years, comprising both newly launched property and lived-in homes, according to estimates by Cushman & Wakefield. Read more>>

Singapore Press Holdings Starts £11M Refurb of UK Student Digs

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has commenced a £10.6 million ($14 million) asset enhancement initiative to refurbish nine properties in its UK student accommodation portfolio.

This comes as the media group looks to meet the changing accommodation type preferences, as well as “maintain their competitive edge over other properties in the area”. Read more>>

Condo and HDB Rents, Volumes Up in February: SRX

Rents and volumes of non-landed private homes and Housing Board flats rose in the month of February, showing as yet no effect from the coronavirus outbreak, according to flash estimates from real estate portal SRX Property on Wednesday.

Condominium rents rose 0.1 percent from January and are up 3.3 percent year on year. Read more>>

China Merchants REIT Payout Rises by 32.4%

China Merchants REIT (0978) said its annual distributable income grew by 32.4 percent to RMB 12.25 million in 2019 due to an increase in rent and occupancy rate.

Annualized distribution of 23.9 HK cents (3.1 US cents) per unit was declared, which represents an annualized provisional distribution yield of 6.1 percent, based on the closing price of the units of HK$3.33 on 31 December 2019. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.

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