Singapore’s TCA Buys Melbourne Office Block for $250M and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singaporean investments in Australia lead today’s look at real estate news from around Asia, with a fund manager from the Lion City venturing back into Melbourne’s office market. Blackstone also makes the headlines with a Bengaluru hotel investment, and Jack Ma’s property-loving wife adds a London mansion to her growing portfolio. 

Singapore’s TCA Buys Melbourne Office Block From GPT for $250M

ASX-listed GPT Group has sold an office building in Melbourne’s Docklands for A$383 million ($250 million) to Singaporean fund manager TrustCapital Advisors in one of the Victoria capital’s biggest transactions this year.

The 10-storey building at 750 Collins Street is occupied by Monash University, with another 10 years to run on the lease. TCA acquired the asset at an investment yield of 6.6 percent in one of its first big moves back in Australia’s office sector after selling much of its holdings there in 2017, including a five-asset portfolio worth more than A$700 million. Read more>>

Blackstone Buying Majority Stake in Bengaluru Ritz-Carlton for Up to $79M

US investment giant Blackstone is acquiring a 51 to 55 percent stake in the entity that owns the Ritz-Carlton Bengaluru, marking a high-profile entry into India’s luxury hospitality segment. The transaction, estimated at INR 6 billion to 7 billion ($68 million to $79 million), values the 277-key property between INR 12 billion and 14 billion, according to sources familiar with the deal.

The Ritz-Carlton Bengaluru, operated under the Marriott International brand, is located in the heart of the city’s central business district. The property has long been a flagship asset of Nitesh Land, the seller in this transaction. Read more>>

Jack Ma’s Wife Buys Former Italian Embassy in London for $26M

Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s wife Zhang Ying has reportedly purchased a villa in London that once served as the Italian embassy for £19.5 million ($25.6 million), according to the Financial Times.

This luxury property formerly housed the office of the Italian Defence Attache and measures 7,948 square feet (738 square metres), with a cinema, a lift and six bedrooms. The initial asking price of the property was £21.5 million before the asset changed hands for £19.5 million last year, marking the 34th-highest transaction price in London and the top 0.4 percent of the priciest transactions in 2024, according to data provider LonRes. Read more>>

Hillhouse-Backed EZA Hill Buys DHL Warehouse for $40M to Enter Thai Market

EZA Hill Property Management is acquiring a $40 million DHL logistics facility, marking the firm’s first acquisition in Thailand after the Hillhouse Investment-backed industrial platform swept up properties in Singapore and Indonesia in the past year.

The Thai deal comes after EZA Hill in August agreed to buy five industrial properties in Singapore from CapitaLand Ascendas REIT for S$329 million ($256.4 million). Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Billionaire Cheng Family Struggles to Convince Lenders to Take Haircuts

Talks between the billionaire Cheng family and potential investors in New World Development are stalling, underscoring the challenges facing the indebted company as it seeks to secure much-needed funding.

The impasse is due to disagreement over how much control the clan is prepared to hand over in return for a capital injection and risks gutting the chance of a deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more>>

AirTrunk Flagged as Potential Buyer for 1GW Western Sydney Data Centre

AirTrunk has been named as the potential buyer for a 1-gigawatt data centre campus planned for Western Sydney. The Blackstone-owned firm is set to purchase the site, which is being developed by property investor ISPT, if planning permission is granted for the project. 

Local news reports indicate that a preliminary agreement is in place between the parties, with project management firm Plan Project Management having filed an application with the New South Wales government for the campus in the Kemps Creek area of Sydney in September. Read more>>

GDS’s DayOne Unit Signs MOU With Amata to Expand Thai Data Centre Campus

DayOne Data Centers has signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand’s Amata Corp for the future development of Chonburi Tech Park Plot 2 and the expansion of its existing Chonburi Tech Park Plot 1 campus. 

Together, CTP1 and CTP2 establish the foundation for a unified 1-gigawatt platform, anchored by the already under-construction CTP1 and enabled by the future development of CTP2, creating one of Southeast Asia’s largest single-site digital infrastructure campuses. Read more>>

Japan’s Daisho Buys Honolulu’s Royal Hawaiian Hotel for $510M

Kamehameha Schools has sold its remaining interest in the Royal Hawaiian hotel, selling the lease fee landholdings under the iconic pink oceanfront resort to Japan-based Daisho Co for $510 million.

The transaction closed on 6 November, KS said. The property will continue to be held and operated under its current long-term ground lease to Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts. Daisho is a private, family-owned company with hospitality holdings in Asia and the Pacific, and this is its first commercial venture in Hawaii. Read more>>

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