Empyrion Breaks Ground on First Taiwan Data Centre and More APAC Real Estate Headlines

More data centres lead Mingtiandi’s look at headlines from around the region today, with Singapore-based Empyrion prepping a project in Taiwan. Also in the news, ICG sells off a Singapore diploma provider and Vanke bondholders are being advised to call a default on the troubled developer. 

Singapore’s Empyrion Breaks Ground on First Taiwan Data Centre

Empyrion Digital on Monday broke ground on its first data centre in Taiwan, according to an announcement, adding a facility in its sixth Asian market.

Taipei Data Centre (TW1) will have 7 megawatts of scalable IT load in a 4,260 square metre (45,854 square foot), five-storey facility designed to achieve Taiwan’s Green Building Gold Certification. Read more>>

ICG Sells Singapore School to Sun Venture

UK fund manager ICG said Monday that it has sold Singapore’s PSB Academy to local investment firm Sun Venture for an undisclosed sum. Reporting by the Wall Street Journal in November had priced the deal at around $380 million.

PSB Academy provides certification, diploma and degree courses to more than 17,000 students in Indonesia, China, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries in addition to Singapore. Read more>>

Debt Advisory Firm PJT Partners Advises Vanke Bondholders to Call Default

A debt advisory firm asked China Vanke dollar bondholders to consider calling a default on the embattled developer’s notes, based on cross-default clauses, people familiar with the matter said.

PJT Partners, which has been seeking to advise Vanke’s creditors, told the bondholders that an event of default was triggered after an original grace period on one of the firm’s onshore notes expired in December. So far, no creditors have made such a call on any of Vanke’s notes and the outreach doesn’t indicate that a default is imminent. Read more>>

GIC Said in Exclusive Talks to Buy Dublin Logistics Campus for $583M

GIC and Valor Real Estate Partners are said to be in exclusive talks to buy a Dublin warehouse facility from UK fund manager Henderson Park for €500 million ($583.2 million) in what would be Ireland’s biggest logistics deal ever. 

The Singapore sovereign fund and infill logistics specialist Valor are aiming to acquire Horizon Logistics Park, an industrial campus near Dublin’s airport occupying nearly 300 acres (121.4 hectares) of land, with Henderson Park having developed more than 1 million square feet (92,903 square metres) on the site. Read more>>

Guangzhou’s Yuexiu Buys Pudong Site for $370M

Yuexiu Property announced this past week that it has acquired a residential site in Shanghai’s Pudong district for RMB 2.6 billion ($370 million).

The developer controlled by the Guangzhou municipal government plans to develop up to 108,958 square metres (1.1 million square feet) of apartments on the plot in the Gaohang area near the Zhouhai Road station on Shanghai’s Metro Line 6. Read more>>

Singapore Residential Specialist LHN Closes on Sale of Coliwoo Property

SGX-listed LHN Group announced Monday that it has completed its sale of Coliwoo Hotel Pasir Panjang to a non-related party in a transaction valuing the 60-key property at S$43.9 million ($34.1 million). 

The Pasir Panjang sale, first announced in October, comes after the parent of co-living operator Coliwoo in May sold a formerly Coliwoo-branded co-living hotel in the city-state’s Geylang area for S$25.8 million (then $20 million). Read more>>

Citi, BofA Optimistic on Hong Kong Housing Market

Major financial institutions, including Citi and Bank of America, are increasingly optimistic about Hong Kong’s residential property market this year, as lower mortgage rates and strong leasing demand change buying behaviour.

Citi raised its home price growth forecast to 8 percent this year, up from 3 percent in October, citing a faster-than-expected rebound last year. Read more>>

Temasek, Apollo Provide $1.8B in Financing for US Building Materials Maker

Billionaire Brad Jacobs’s QXO said it has secured an additional $1.8 billion in financing, led by Singapore’s Temasek and Manhattan-based Apollo Global Management, as the building products supplier pursues buyouts amid consolidation in the industry.

The latest funding, announced Monday, takes the total investment in the company to $3 billion after it raised $1.2 billion last week. Its shares rose about 4 percent in morning trading. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on X, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.