Beijing Asking Ping An to Take Over Country Garden and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Country Garden Leads Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today, with a Reuters report indicating that China’s central government is arranging a sale of the company to Ping An Insurance. Also in the news, Korea’s National Pension Service invests in a US fund manager, TPG vows to make some real estate deals and top US financiers sound nervous in Hong Kong.

China’s State Council Said Asking Ping An to Take Over Country Garden

Chinese authorities have asked Ping An Insurance Group to take a controlling stake in embattled Country Garden (2007.HK), the nation’s biggest private property developer, four people familiar with the plan said.

China’s State Council, which is headed by Premier Li Qiang, has instructed the local government of Guangdong province, where both companies are based, to help arrange a rescue of Country Garden by Ping An, said two of the sources who have direct knowledge of the matter. Read more>>

Korea’s NPS Buys Minority Stake in US PE Firm Stockbridge

Stockbridge announced that it has completed a strategic reorganisation Korea’s National Pension Service taking a minority interest in the San Francisco-based private equity real estate firm.

NPS, the world’s third-largest pension fund with over $750 billion in assets, is acquiring a partial interest in San Francisco-based Stockbridge. NPS is investing through a separate account investment programme administered by Blue Owl. Berkshire Global Advisors acted as financial advisor to Stockbridge in the transaction. Read more>>

TPG Ready To Play Offence in Real Estate After Angelo Gordon Buy 

Global investment firm TPG Group closed on its $2.7 billion acquisition of Angelo Gordon, making way for the company to acquire real estate assets “not typically available for sale” in “one of the most interesting investing environments seen in at least two decades”, according to TPG’s top leader.

TPG, which maintains dual headquarters in San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas, completed its acquisition of alternative investment manager Angelo Gordon on 1 November in a deal that is expected to significantly expand the firm into credit investing and add to its real estate capabilities. Read more>>

Wall Street Bosses Talk Risk at Hong Kong Conference

Fragile markets, shadow lenders, international tensions and too many wars — global bankers gathering in Hong Kong were meant to discuss how they’re adapting to the financial world’s “complexity” and ended up dwelling on the potential for big blow-ups instead.

“My biggest fear is there’s one more geopolitical escalation and there’s a market event,” Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Read more>>

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Reports Data Breach

Singapore luxury casino Marina Bay Sands said an unauthorised third party accessed its customer data of about 665,000 non-casino rewards programme members.

The Las Vegas Sands-owned resort said there was no evidence that the third party misused the data to harm customers in the 19-20 October incident, according to a statement Tuesday. Read more>>

CLSA Juggles Leadership in Hong Kong

CLSA promoted Hong Kong-based staff to deputy chief executive positions, giving local leaders more sway after moves in recent years that saw Beijing tighten control over the brokerage.

Edward Park and James Xu became deputy CEOs, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Jodi Wang, the former head of human resources, was named co-chief operating officer with Xu, the people said. Read more>>

Frasers Hospitality Trust Posts 26.4% Rise in H2 Distributions

Frasers distribution per stapled security rose by 26.4 percent to S$0.011777 ($0.0087) for its second half ended 30 September, from S$0.009316 in the same period last year.

This came as gross revenue and net property income grew, supported by a continued recovery in global tourism and the growing event and Mice (meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions) segment, the managers said on Tuesday. Gross revenue was up 17.8 percent to S$61 million for the half-year period, from S$51.8 million in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, net property income grew 19.5 percent on the year to S$45.3 million for the half year, from S$37.9 million. Read more>>

Elite Commercial REIT Distributions Drop 26%

Elite Commercial REIT’s distribution per unit for the nine months ended 30 September fell 25.6 percent to 2.82 pence, compared to 3.79 pence during the same period last year.

Despite a 20.4 percent rise in net property income for the three quarters to £32.5 million ($39.9 million), distributable income dropped 25.1 percent to £13.6 million on the year due to higher financing costs, said the manager of the SGX-listed REIT on Tuesday. Read more>>

EC World REIT Q3 DPU Down 33% on Lower Gross Revenue, NPI

EC World REIT’s distribution per unit fell 32.8 percent year-on-year to S$0.916 ($0.68) for its third quarter ended 30 September.

Gross revenue for the China-focused e-commerce logistics landlord slid 9.5 percent to S$27 million for the quarter. Net property income dipped 8.5 percent to S$24.7 million. Read more>>

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