Country Garden’s family will bag $50 million in dividends from a stake in its services arm
Country Garden’s Yang Huiyan and family will bag $50 million in dividends from a stake in the Chinese developer’s services arm, with that story leading Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today. UBS is also making news as it plans to take more space at a Hong Kong office tower than originally planned, and Mapletree Industrial Trust completes a Singapore workshop disposal.
Family Behind Country Garden to Reap $50M in Dividends
China’s former richest woman is still reaping a windfall from her crumbling property empire.
Yang Huiyan, who chairs Country Garden Holdings, will receive about RMB 160.2 million ($22 million) in dividends from her direct stake in Country Garden Services Holdings. A family foundation she transferred more than half of her stake to in July will bag RMB 198.7 million. Read more>>
UBS to Take More Space in SHKP Kowloon Office Tower
UBS will lease an entire 14-storey office tower in Hong Kong — almost double the space it initially planned — helping provide a vote of confidence for a city battling to keep its status as the region’s premier financial hub.
The deal will give the Swiss lender 460,000 square feet (42,735 square metres) of space in the building, which is being developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties in West Kowloon. That’s 84 percent more than the 250,000 square feet of space UBS announced it would rent in 2022. Read more>>
Mapletree Industrial Trust Completes $38M Singapore Workshop Sale
Mapletree Industrial Trust has completed its sale of a pair of factories in the Tanglin Halt area near Commonwealth Avenue for S$50.6 million ($37.6 million), according to an announcement on Wednesday.
The Singapore-listed REIT had first announced the disposal of the two industrial assets in February, with the combined properties measuring 254,443 square feet (23,639 square metres) of gross floor area. Read more>>
Country Garden Hires Kroll to Study Liquidation Scenarios
Country Garden has picked Kroll to carry out a liquidation analysis, according to three sources, ahead of a court hearing in mid-May as the embattled Chinese developer pushes ahead with its offshore debt restructuring plan.
Kroll, the New York-headquartered financial advisory firm, is expected to conduct an independent business review of Country Garden before projecting a recovery rate for the developer’s creditors under a liquidation scenario, according to the sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Read more>>
Korea’s Consus Buying Former Brookfield LA Office Tower at 50% Discount
A Los Angeles office building that Brookfield Asset Management defaulted on is being sold for about 50 percent less than the outstanding debt on the tower.
Consus Asset Management, a South Korea-based investment firm, agreed to purchase the tower at 777 South Figueroa Street for about $145 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal who asked not to be identified citing private details. Brookfield had about $289 million of debt on the building when it notified investors of a default, according to a February 2023 filing. Read more>>
Singapore Condo Resale Volume Posts Slight Improvement in February
Singapore condo resale prices and volume recorded a slight improvement in February but continued to be muted against the backdrop of Chinese New Year festivities.
Flash data from SRX and 99.co released Tuesday showed that resale volumes inched up 1.2 percent to 760 units resold after falling in January. Read more>>
Korea’s MBK Secures $1B Refinancing on Homeplus From Meritz
MBK Partners, the North Asia-focused private equity firm, has refinanced all of its KRW 1.3 trillion ($1 billion) loans on Homeplus with a new one from Meritz Financial Group, a deal that alleviates concerns over liquidity problems at the South Korean supermarket chain.
Seoul-based Meritz has agreed to extend fresh loans backed by Homeplus store buildings and other properties, of which KRW 800 billion is falling due this year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter on Thursday. Read more>>
Weak Property Market Cuts Into Korean Securities Firms’ Profits
South Korea’s securities firms suffered a 20 percent fall in overall net profit last year hurt by the weak property market, adding to bearish views on the domestic brokerage industry amid the sustained slump in the real estate sector.
The total net income of 60 South Korean securities firms dropped 20.2 percent to KRW 3.6 trillion ($2.7 billion) excluding KRW 2.2 trillion in the one-time dividend income of Korea Investment & Securities and Daishin Securities in 2023, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday. Read more>>
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