Country Garden Creditors Warn of Deal Breaker in Debt Talks and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Creditors push back against Chinese builder Country Garden’s debt restructuring proposal, with that story leading today’s headline roundup. Also making the list, Sunac wins backing from bondholders for its debt workout and a collective sale in Singapore falls flat.

Country Garden Creditors Warn of Deal Breaker in Debt Talks

Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings’ efforts to win backing for a $14.1 billion offshore debt restructuring are running into resistance as key bank creditors say failure to accept some of their demands would be a “deal breaker”.

The company, once China’s largest developer by contracted sales, got a few months’ reprieve from its liquidation petition hearing on Monday, as High Court Judge Linda Chan decided to adjourn the case to 11 August. Read more>>

Sunac China Gains Support for Second Debt Restructuring

Sunac China said it has gained the support from nearly two-thirds of holders of its outstanding debts for offshore debt restructuring.

Holders of 64 percent of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the existing debt submitted letters to accede to the restructuring when the early consent fee deadline expired Friday, the developer said Monday in a filing. Among them, holders of 82 percent of its outstanding offshore dollar-denominated notes, convertible bonds and mandatory convertible bonds supported the plan, Sunac said. Read more>>

Collective Condo Sale Attempt in Singapore’s Bukit Timah Falls Flat

The collective sale of Bukit Timah condominium Hillcrest Arcadia has moved into private treaty talks after a tender closed Thursday with no bids.

The property received expressions of interest from several parties at prices below the S$920 million ($716.4 million) asking price, Terence Lian, Huttons Asia’s head of investment sales, told the Business Times. Read more>>

Boustead Singapore Boosts Net Profit 58%

Engineering and technology group Boustead Singapore’s net profit for the six months to the end of March rose 58 percent year-on-year to S$59.1 million ($46 million).

The result came despite revenue falling 42 percent to S$231.9 million over the same time frame. On a per-share basis, earnings for the half were 12 Singapore cents, up from 7.8 Singapore cents in the year-ago period. Read more>>

Goldman Expects Stronger Yuan to Boost Chinese Stocks

Chinese stocks are expected to benefit from further gains in the yuan, which has been showing resilience amid the country’s trade spat with the US, according to strategists at Goldman Sachs.

Every 1 percent appreciation of the yuan versus the dollar can boost Chinese equities by 3 percent thanks to factors including improved corporate earnings outlook and stronger foreign inflows, strategists including Kinger Lau wrote Monday in a research note. Earlier this month, the bank raised its 12-month forecast for the yuan to 7 per dollar from 7.35. Read more>>

Liquidators Win Case Against Former Park Hotel Boss

Former Park Hotel Management director Allen Law, who is being sued by liquidators of the company, has failed to reduce his potential liabilities by S$6.8 million ($5.3 million) after the Singapore High Court rejected his application to amend his defence and introduce a counterclaim.

In a landmark judgment last year, Justice Goh Yihan dismissed Law’s application on the basis that the counterclaims Law sought to introduce did not fall within the scope of insolvency set-offs. Read more>>

Hong Kong Landlords Try New Upgrades to Win Back Tenants

Some prime office landlords in Hong Kong are sprucing up their buildings to attract more tenants, as rental discounts are only seen as a short-term strategy, according to experts on the market.

“In the past 20 years, landlords of commercial buildings in Hong Kong did not need to do anything and could still have substantial incomes, but it’s nothing like that any more,” said Li Man-on, director of Hing Wai Investment, owner of the Hing Wai Building in Central. Read more>>

Frasers Hospitality Trust Privatisation Seen Lacking Benefit for Minority Investors

Minority investors of Frasers Hospitality Trust are getting a second chance to exit their holdings by way of a privatisation offer.

FHT sponsor Frasers Property recently proposed privatising the stapled group at S$0.71 ($0.55) per stapled security. In September 2022, Frasers Property’s earlier attempt to privatise FHT at S$0.70 per stapled security narrowly failed to get the requisite support from minority securityholders. Read more>>

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