One of Oyo’s budget hotels in Guilin
A Softbank-backed hotel chain leads Mingtiandi’s roundup of real estate headlines today with the news that hostile hostelry owners had stormed the startup’s Shanghai office in an attempt to collect overdue payments.
In other news around the region, the average price of a home in the world’s most unaffordable city dropped by 25 percent last year, while a Thai energy giant is set to put in a bid for a UK-headquartered retail chain’s Asia business.
Elsewhere, mainland China’s major rival to Starbucks is telling customers to make their skinny lattes themselves.
Oyo In the Firing Line Over China Business
Tensions between SoftBank-backed Oyo and hoteliers in China were highlighted this week when a dozen operators descended on the Indian-start-up’s Shanghai office to demand compensation for lost income, with some clashing with security staff.
Prompted by its unconventional practice of offering hoteliers guaranteed incomes, irrespective of guest numbers, the disputes point to what investors and former staff say are wider problems with its business model, which is leading to huge losses in China. Chinese hotel owners complain Oyo has cut the payments it had promised when they signed up. Read more>>
Hong Kong Home Prices Drop by 25%
The average price of a new flat in Hong Kong fell by the most in 13 years in 2019 as months of civil unrest battered market sentiment. More losses have been predicted in 2020.
The anti-government protests, which started in June and became increasingly volatile, deterred buyers and caused the average price of a new home to drop by HK$3.72 million ($478,226), or 25 percent, to HK$10.87 million from an all-time high in 2018, according to real estate agency Ricacorp Properties. Read more>>
PTT Joins Thai Giants Vying for $9B Tesco Asia
The retail unit of Thailand’s biggest energy company PTT plans to bid for Tesco Plc’s Asia businesses, competing with other Thai corporate heavyweights for the operations worth up to $9 billion, people familiar with the situation said.
PTTOR, the unit which runs PTT’s gas stations and related retail business, is set to join domestic retailer Central Group and conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group in first-round bids due by 15 January, they said. Read more>>
Luckin Coffee Rolls Out Unmanned Coffee Machine Strategy
Luckin Coffee, one of China’s largest coffee chains, announced it is entering into the unmanned retail market Wednesday in a bid to further densify its network and step closer to its customers.
The company also launched its smart unstaffed coffee machine “Luckin Coffee Express” and smart vending machine “Luckin Coffee Pop MINI” at its strategy conference held in Beijing on the same day. Read more>>
Elite Commercial REIT Set to File for Singapore Listing
Singapore may soon witness the listing of its first pure play UK-focused REIT, Elite Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust.
A representative from Elite Partners Capital confirmed that work is underway to file a prospectus for the REIT. Read more>>
China’s Landsea Homes Breaks Ground on New York Development
Landsea Homes, in partnership with DNA Development, officially broke ground on their 12-story, mixed-use development at 540 Sixth Avenue, at the northeastern corner of 14th St. and 6th Ave.
“Located at the nexus of three desirable downtown neighbourhoods – Flatiron, Chelsea and Greenwich Village – 40 Sixth Avenue is well-positioned to raise the bar for luxury living,” said John Ho, CEO of Landsea Homes. Read more>>
Mainland Super-Rich Owe Wealth to Real Estate
China’s wealthy families are twice as likely as global peers to have made their millions in real estate, according to a report co-authored by UBS Group, which found an increasing focus on wealth preservation and succession.
Almost 30 per cent of participants surveyed said their family wealth came from property, followed by consumer discretionary and industrials. 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.
Leave a Reply