Woori Financial Group CEO Jong-Yong Yim
The outbound trend among Korean investors continues as banking giant Woori makes a bet on US data centres, with that story leading today’s headline roundup. Also in the news, a Hong Kong mansion once owned by tycoon Chen Hongtian is deeply discounted and China’s new home prices show signs of stabilising.
Natixis Teams With Korea’s Woori to Loan $150M for US Data Centres
South Korean banking giant Woori Financial Group has invested $150 million in two US data centres in partnership with French investment bank Natixis. The investment marks the first move under the strategic alliance between the two companies, signed in June 2024, to jointly establish a global private debt fund.
The funds were directed towards data centres in Arizona and Virginia, with respective capacities of 176 and 110 megawatts. Both facilities are secured under 15-year lease agreements with e-commerce giant Amazon. Read more>>
Bank Cuts Price on Cheung Kei Boss’s Hong Kong Mansion by 60%
A bank trying to unload a luxury mansion in Hong Kong formerly owned by a Chinese property tycoon has slashed its price by about 60 percent, reflecting tepid demand for high-end real estate.
The house at 15 Gough Hill Road is on offer for HK$700 million ($90 million) to HK$800 million, compared with a purchase price of more than HK$2 billion in 2016, according to property agents familiar with the matter. The property was put on the market again last week after five failed tenders, according to a sales filing. Read more>>
China New Home Prices Level Off, Ending 18-Month Slide
China’s new home prices stopped falling on a monthly basis in December for the first time in 18 months, official data showed Friday, after the government rolled out multiple rounds of stimulus to lift the property sector from a prolonged slump.
The reading stood in contrast to a 0.1 percent decline in November, as calculated by Reuters based on data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. On an annual basis, new home prices fell 5.3 percent in December after a 5.7 percent drop in the preceding month. Read more>>
Mitsui-Sponsored Japan Logistics Fund Swapping Sheds With Prologis REIT
The manager of Japan Logistics Fund, a Tokyo-listed REIT sponsored by conglomerate Mitsui & Co, informed the stock exchange on 16 January that it has decided to trade ownership stakes in a set of warehouses with Nippon Prologis REIT, sponsored by US industrial giant Prologis.
Under the terms of the proposed deal, Japan Logistics Fund will acquire stakes in properties in Nagoya and Funabashi, in return for handing over to Nippon Prologis REIT rights to its Ichikawa Logistics Center II asset. Japan Logistics Fund said it also decided to buy a Narashino warehouse. Read more>>
Tycoon Kadoorie Plans $50M Drive to Promote Hong Kong Worldwide
Tycoon Michael Kadoorie is spearheading a drive to raise $50 million to promote Hong Kong through a worldwide PR campaign, the South China Morning Post has learned, two months after a Beijing official told local business leaders to take “concrete actions” to support the city.
Sources said Thursday that Kadoorie, chairman of CLP Group, the city’s largest electricity supplier, met several property tycoons including Peter Lee, co-chairman and managing director of Henderson Land Development, and Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Raymond Kwok, as well as representatives from Nan Fung Group and Alibaba Group Holding, three weeks ago to share his grand plan. Alibaba is the owner of the SCMP. Read more>>
Owner of Physical Gym Chain Sells Hong Kong Homes at 40% Discount
An owner of Hong Kong gym chain Physical sold a number of residential assets at a huge loss after shuttering his business in September, citing high rents imposed by some of its landlords.
The disposal included four flats at the Park Haven development in Causeway Bay, which were sold at a discount of more than 40 percent since December by Physical owner Luk Ngai-keung. Read more>>
Winding-Up Hearing for China Evergrande Unit Deferred Until March
China Evergrande announced to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday that the city’s High Court had given it a temporary reprieve in a winding-up case filed against Tianji Holdings, which guaranteed some of its offshore bonds.
The court adjourned until 12 March a hearing on a petition filed by Evergrande’s liquidators in November. Evergrande’s shares have been suspended from trading since January of last year. Read more>>
Korea Apartment Prices Drop for Ninth Week, Seoul Holds Steady
Apartment prices across South Korea have shown a downward trend for nine straight weeks. Prices in Seoul remained unchanged for a third week.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board, nationwide apartment prices for the second week of January fell 0.04 percent compared with the previous week. The decline was larger compared to the previous week’s decline of -0.03 percent. Read more>>
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