PGIM Raising $506M in First Aussie Property Debt Fund and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

PGIM raises $506 million for its first Australian real estate debt fund, with that story leading Mingtiandi’s headline roundup today. Also making the list, Hong Kong’s audit regulator says it found no supporting evidence for some of the allegations made against PwC and Mandarin Oriental tops out Hong Kong’s One Causeway Bay.

PGIM Raising $506 Million for Debut Australian Property Debt Fund

PGIM is raising A$750 million ($506.2 million) for its first Australian real estate debt fund to fill a growing need in the country as traditional lenders retreat.

Tighter regulation and lending standards in Australia have made it tougher for conventional banks to deploy their resources, said Steve Bulloch, PGIM Real Estate’s head of Asia Pacific debt and Australia. That leaves a gap that non-bank lenders like PGIM can fill, particularly in construction lending, he said. Read more>>

Hong Kong Regulator Clears PwC of Poison Pen Letter Allegations

Hong Kong’s audit regulator said it found no supporting evidence for some of the allegations made against PricewaterhouseCoopers in an anonymous whistleblower letter that circulated on social media in April.

The Accounting and Financial Reporting Council said that it found no support for the claims the firm had failed to establish effective quality controls, failed to adhere to professional standards in its client relationship with China Evergrande and failed to assign appropriate personnel to key positions, according to a statement Wednesday. Read more>>

Mandarin Oriental Tops Out Causeway Bay Commercial Project in Hong Kong

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has topped out its latest venture in Hong Kong, One Causeway Bay.

The development is sited at the historic Lot No.1, the first piece of land to be acquired in Hong Kong by James Matheson in 1841, and from 1973 to 2019 was the site of the Excelsior Hotel. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and Ronald Lu & Partners, the 555,000 square foot (51,561 square metre) commercial building is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. Read more>>

Asian Investors Seen Leading Surge in Aussie Commercial Deals

A bounceback in investment sales volume has begun in Australia as commercial property investors react to the big pricing shifts in the market with a mid-year surge in dealmaking.

After being battered by interest rate rises and softer economic fundamentals, investors are now buying into major capitals, with the action led by offshore players. Read more>>

Tokyo Residents Seek to Block GLP Data Centre Development

A group of residents in Tokyo said Wednesday that they were aiming to block construction of a massive logistics and data centre planned by Singaporean developer GLP, in a worrying sign for businesses looking to Japan to meet growing demand.

The petition by more than 220 residents of the city of Akishima in western Tokyo follows a successful bid in December in Nagareyama, Chiba prefecture, to quash a similar data centre plan. Read more>>

China Said Dialling Up Scrutiny of Big Four Audit Firms After Evergrande Probe

China’s Ministry of Finance is conducting more rigorous checks of work done by the Big Four auditing firms for local companies, three people with knowledge of the matter said, amid concerns that auditors are not doing enough to uncover corporate wrongdoing.

The tighter scrutiny, which has not been previously reported, is mainly focused on Deloitte, EY, PwC, KPMG and their audits of some financial firms as well as highly leveraged companies, said the people. Read more>>

Vietnam Real Estate Tycoon Hit With Travel Ban Over Unpaid Taxes

Nguyen Ngoc Thao, chairman and legal representative of developer Trungnam Land, has been banned from leaving Vietnam from 7 June onwards until the firm pays its tax arrears.

In a recent announcement, the Danang Tax Department said Trungnam Land owed arrears of VND 583 billion ($22.9 million). Read more>>

Floor in Singapore’s Suntec on Market at $31.7M

A full strata office floor at Suntec Tower 1, in Singapore’s Suntec City, has been put up for sale at an indicative guide price of S$42.8 million ($31.7 million). The floor plate has a total strata floor area of 12,045 square feet (1,119 square metres), and the guide price translates to S$3,553 per square foot.

According to market sources, the office floor for sale is on the 27th floor. Resale caveats indicate that the entire office floor was last purchased for S$31.72 million per square foot in June 2021. Read more>>