New World Set to Buy Up Hong Kong's State Theatre

New World is ready to start redeveloping the State Theatre complex

Cinemas are not popular destinations in Hong Kong these days but New World Development is willing to bet on reviving the State Theatre in North Point as the developer is expected to buy out the building in a Thursday compulsory sale.

Also in the news, Korean investors continue to dominate cross-border acquisitions with an $86 million office deal in southern California and a Macquarie invested data centre platform says its worth A$5 billion, after inking a deal for a Tokyo hyperscale project.

New World Set to Buy Up HK’s State Theatre on Thursday

The compulsory sale of the State Theatre building, which is mostly held by New World Development (0017), opens Thursday with a reserve price of HK$4.77 billion. The price would be a record high for a compulsory auction in the city.

New World has already acquired 98 percent of the ownership of the historic building in North Point. It has pledged to preserve the 68-year-old property, which was not only a cinema but art and cultural venue. Following approval from the Lands Tribunal in late August, it is the first Grade I historic building to go on sale. Market watchers believe the valuation of shops in North Point could benefit from the sale. Read more>>

Korea Investment Buys $86M California Office Building

Korea Investment & Securities Co. has acquired a 100 billion won ($85.8 million) office building in California, the latest in its string of alternative investments in the U.S.

The Korean brokerage house pooled 41.2 billion won from investors, pulling in 14.6 billion won from individuals, according to investment banking sources on Sunday. Read more>>

AirTrunk Tops A$5B Valuation After Tokyo Data Centre Deal

The value of Macquarie-owned AirTrunk is set to soar above A$5 billion with the data centre operator poised to develop a huge data centre campus east of Tokyo.

The 300-plus megawatt project – by far the largest developed by AirTrunk to date – will include seven buildings set across more than 13 hectares of land within the data centre hub of Inzia, a small city just over an hour’s drive from the Japanese capital. Read more>>

Century Bridge Announces Investment in $103M China Residential Project

Century Bridge Capital announced today that it has invested in a second Chinese middle-income, residential project in Taicang, China with Hong-Kong listed developer Jingrui. The $103 million project follows the April announcement of an initial $114 million joint venture development in Taicang with Jingrui, with whom Century Bridge has previously developed successful projects in Ningbo and Wuxi. Read more>>

SPH Reit Posts H2 DPU of 1.04 SG Cent After Distribution Deferment

SPH Reit on Tuesday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.04 Singapore cent for the half-year period ended Aug 31, 2020, compared to 2.85 cents paid out in the corresponding period a year ago.

This was on the back of a 79.4 per cent drop in income available for distribution to S$14.9 million, from S$72.2 million a year ago; the Reit manager decided to defer the payment of some S$14.5 million, as allowed under Covid-19 relief measures announced by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. This was “for prudence in financial management”, it said. Read more>>

HK Hoteliers Cautious About Openings Even as Virus Eases

Hong Kong’s third coronavirus wave might have eased and local demand might have risen during the recent public holiday, but the city’s hotel operators are not taking any chances and remain cautious in what is still a challenging market.

Some have opened their properties after delays, while others have postponed launches and will follow developments around the pandemic before deciding on welcoming guests. Read more>>

LOGOS Said to Start DD on Brisbane Asset

The rush for industrial property has led to Centuria Industrial REIT increasing its exposure in Queensland while LOGOS Property has entered into exclusive due diligence on Qube Holdings $2 billion Moorebank logistics park.

In the long-running pitch for the south-west Sydney asset, Qube and LOGOS are in discussions to agree the level of ownership and assets which would be subject to the deal as well as the operating structure and arrangements for the Interstate and IMEX terminals. Read more>>

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