Neumann to Sue Softbank over WeWork Share Sale

WeWork’s former CEO hustled his way to the top of the food chain before crashing down

A cancelled share sale leads Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that WeWork’s former boss is poised to sue Softbank for cutting the strings on his golden parachute.

In other news around the region, the data centre sector in Hong Kong is expected to defy the city’s falling rents, even as mainland buyers disappear from Hong Kong’s luxury homes market. Down in Singapore the city’s biggest banks hotel REITs listed on the local stock exchange, which are now trading at half of their net asset value, may make attractive privatisation candidates.

Neumann to Sue Softbank Over Cancelled WeWork Share Sale

Adam Neumann is planning on filing a lawsuit against WeWork majority backer SoftBank Group over the Japanese investment firm’s cancellation of a deal to buy $3 billion worth of shares in the shared office provider from stockholders, which included Neumann’s nearly $1 billion golden parachute.

SoftBank lawyers revealed Neumann’s plans in an email last week to WeWork’s board arguing that a similar suit filed by a special committee of WeWork’s board did not have the authority because of Neumann’s suit. Read more>>

Hong Kong Data Centre Rents to Rise 4% in 2020

The current pandemic has increased demand for data services. The closure of schools, work-from-home policies and social distancing are placing a greater demand on web-based platforms that support online meetings and classes.

And while Hong Kong’s real-estate market as a whole faces price and rent corrections, the data centre market has a strong outlook and is likely to attract more investors looking for an upside. Data centre rents will continue to go up by 4 percent in 2020, and yields will stay in the 3.5 per cent to 4 percent range, which is more attractive compared with other sectors. Read more>>

DBS Says Singapore Hotel REITS Attractive Privatisation Targets

DBS Group Research on Monday said that hotel Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-REITS) are now trading below replacement cost, and serve as “attractive privatisation candidates”.

“The four hospitality-focused S-REITS have borne the brunt of the sell-off from the COVID-19 outbreak since late-February and are now trading at 0.5-0.6 times price to net asset value, at -2 standard deviation of their 10-year mean,” wrote DBS analyst Derek Tan in a research note. Read more>>

S$37M Oxley Condo in Singapore Obtains Temporary Occupation Permit

Oxley Holdings on Tuesday night announced that its freehold residential project The Addition has obtained its temporary occupation permit (TOP). Located at 21 Meyappa Chettiar Road, in Singapore’s central region, the eight-storey condominium has 26 apartments and is fully sold. It has a gross development value of S$36.8 million ($25.8 million), Oxley said in a bourse filing.

The Addition is the first of the Oxley group’s 10 ongoing residential development projects in Singapore to achieve TOP. It is a three-minute walk to Potong Pasir MRT station and a five-minute drive to Bidadari Park. Read more>>

Mainland China Buyers Disappear from Hong Kong Luxury Home Market

Mainland Chinese buyers, who largely drove the luxury real estate boom in Hong Kong, the world’s most expensive housing market in terms of affordability, have stopped buying.

The number of homes eligible for buyer’s stamp duty, which is only paid by overseas or company buyers, mostly from the Mainland, plunged to an unprecedented low of just 42 homes in March, from a record monthly high of 534 in December 2017, according to the city’s Inland Revenue Department. Read more>>

Suntec REIT Q1 DPU Falls 28%

Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust on Wednesday posted a 27.7 percent drop in distribution per unit to 1.76 Singapore cents (1.23 US cents) for the first quarter ended 31 March 2020 from 2.43 cents a year ago.

This was due to lower distributable income from operations, retention of a 10 percent distribution, absence of capital distribution, as well as an enlarged unit base. Read more>>

Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT Posts 16.1% rise in Distributable Income

Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit (KORE) on Monday posted a 16.1 per cent increase in its distributable income to $14.4 million for the first quarter this year, up from $12.4 million a year ago.

Net property income grew 15.4 percent to $21 million from $18.2 million, as gross revenue climbed 20.1 percent to $35.3 million, from $29.4 million last year. Read more>>

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