This week’s news starts off with mainland developers finding creative paths to funding to deal with a government clampdown. Also making headlines on Monday, CK Property is offering discounts to attract buyers put off by Hong Kong’s new stamp duty and Greenland Group hopes that its drive into financial services is more successful than its cross-border development projects. Keep reading for all of the headlines today.
Are Chinese Developers Dressing Up Debt as Equity?
Where there is a will, there is a way. That is true for Chinese property developers getting financing, too. Companies like Sunac China are now issuing shares, which pose less systemic risk, and others are trying to find ways to obtain more financing.
China’s real-estate bubble has led to more tightening from the government. Some of the policies target the root cause of the mania – easy credit that allows both developers and homebuyers to splurge on the market. China’s banking regulator said last month that it wants to restrict credit to the sector. Read more>>
Cheung Kong Offers A Tax Salve To Attract Buyers Back To Hong Kong’s Property Market
Cheung Kong Property Holdings has become the first among Hong Kong’s developers to offer a salve to customers; a week after the government doubled the city’s stamp duty to control runaway prices.
For a month until December 15, Cheung Kong said it will foot the bill for buyer who’re liable for a 15 percent stamp duty on its exclusive The Zumurud apartments in Ma Tau Kok. Read more>>
Trump Crushes China M&A
There are two things that M&A bankers hate: protectionism and uncertainty. Donald Trump’s unprecedented election win delivered both, and has the potential to slash the number of Chinese companies snapping up American assets. It took Chinese acquirers years after a 2005 bid for oil producer Unocal Corp. failed on national security grounds to summon up the courage to wade in again.
Beyond post-credit-crisis rescues like China Investment Corp. buying a stake in Blackstone Group LP, it wasn’t until 2012, when billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. bought theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., that aggressive buying of U.S. assets really took off. Read more>>
Greenland Accelerates Push Into Financial Services
Chinese property giant Greenland Holding Group is accelerating its drive into financial services, building a network that spans brokerages, investment banking, private equity funds and insurance.
Greenland said it was confident it could break into these new areas and challenge incumbents by drawing upon support from its property business. Read more>>
Mixed Results For Property Developers In Sluggish Singapore
CapitaLand and City Developments, the top two property developers in Singapore, announced double-digit profit increases for the September quarter, helped by strong residential sales in China. But mid-tier UOL Group’s double-digit net profit decline shows that Singapore’s property market continues to be sluggish.
City Developments, the property and hotel group under the Kwek family owned conglomerate Hong Leong group, booked a 60.1% surge in net profit to S$170.3 million for the September quarter. Revenue rose 14% to S$922.8 million, boosted by home sales in Singapore and the U.K. Read more>>
Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter for headlines as they happen.
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