Jonathan Gray, Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer
Blackstone raises $8 billion for its latest real estate debt fund targeting North America, Europe and Australia, with that update leading today’s headline roundup. Also in the news, casino group Bally’s makes a bid to bail out Australia’s troubled Star and the reportedly imminent sale of an India mall remains unfinalised.
Blackstone $8B Real Estate Debt Fund Includes Australia Among Targets
Blackstone has raised $8 billion for its most recent real estate debt fund, the world’s largest alternative asset manager said Friday, in a sign that the property sector is seeing a recovery after a couple of tumultuous years.
The fund, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies V, will be active in North America, Europe and Australia and make loans and buy existing loans, according to the company. Investors including Blackstone and wealthy individuals are scouting for office properties in New York as companies call employees back to the office, fuelling a nascent recovery in the battered commercial real estate market. Read more>>
Bally’s Makes Unsolicited Bid to Bail Out Australia’s Star
Star Entertainment Group’s board is reviewing an unsolicited offer from US casino group Bally’s Corporation to provide at least A$250 million ($157.6 million) in funding, in a move that could rescue the ailing ASX-listed company from administration.
Star confirmed it received a non-binding proposal for additional funding from Bally’s on Monday morning in a statement to the ASX, following The Australian’s report about the offer. Star said that under the proposed transaction, Bally’s would provide a capital raise of at least A$250 million, under which Star would issue convertible notes. Read more>>
Target of Reported $400M Blackstone Mall Buy Calls Report ‘Speculative’
A major shareholder of South City Projects, the consortium behind Kolkata’s South City Mall, has downplayed recent reports of a potential $400 million deal with alternative asset manager Blackstone, describing it as “speculative”.
South City Projects is a consortium of developers Merlin Group, Sureka Group, Emami Group, Park Chambers Group and Shrachi Group. South City Mall is its flagship project. Read more>>
Tokyo-Listed Keihanshin Makes First Student Housing Investment
Tokyo-listed developer Keihanshin Building said on 6 March that it has made an initial investment in student housing as it diversifies into alternative asset classes.
Keihanshin’s new acquisition in Tokyo’s Itabashi ward is within a five-minute walk of the Akatsuka metro station and measures over 5,111 square metres (55,014 square feet) of floor area. Keihanshin aims to gain expertise through the project, the developer said without providing financial details of the acquisition. Read more>>
Korea’s IGIS Marketing Seoul Four Points Hotel
IGIS Asset Management is set to sell a four-star hotel in Myeong-dong, a popular spot for foreign tourists in Seoul, amid rising investor interest in South Korea’s accommodation sector.
IGIS on Thursday sent requests for proposals to property advisors to sell Four Points by Sheraton Josun, Seoul Myeongdong, according to investment banking industry sources. Read more>>
China’s Housing Minister Sounds Positive Note at Political Meetings
China’s property sector is showing positive changes and market confidence is improving, its housing minister said Sunday, as policymakers try to set a more optimistic tone for the economy this year in the face of mounting US trade pressure.
At a press conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing, housing minister Ni Hong said that “since January and February, the real estate market maintained a positive trend of stopping declines and returning to stabilisation”. Read more>>
Gucci, Prada Closing China Stores as Consumers Retreat
Global luxury retailers are hastening their retreat from China by shutting stores in high-end shopping malls across major mainland cities, as consumers cut back on spending and analysts warn that anaemic sales are likely to persist this year.
French luxury group Kering closed two Gucci stores in Shanghai last month — in Reel Department Store near the landmark Jing’an Temple and New World Daimaru on the city’s busiest shopping strip along Nanjing Road — after more than a decade at those locations. Prada ended its two-year presence at the city’s Hongqiao international airport. Read more>>
Mainland Developer Powerlong Hit With Winding-Up Petition
Powerlong Real Estate said its subsidiary received a liquidation petition in the British Virgin Islands after its restructuring plan failed to gain enough support from creditors last month.
The Chinese developer noticed last Friday that a winding-up petition was filed against its wholly owned subsidiary Powerlong Real Estate (BVI) by a group of creditors led by PAG, according to an exchange filing on Sunday. The application concerned non-payment of the $500 million in 6.25 percent senior notes due on 10 August 2024, as issued by Powerlong Real Estate and guaranteed by its unit. Read more>>
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