UOL group chief executive Liam Wee Sin
A luxury residential tender in Singapore leads today’s roundup of headlines from around the region, with UOL Group winning a site on Orchard Boulevard for $319 million. Also in the news, Brookfield is said to be taking some cash out of its Seoul IFC project and sovereign funds are reported to be liking the scent of McDonald’s China business.
UOL Awarded Orchard Boulevard Site in Singapore for $319M
A S$428.3 million ($318.8 million) tender submitted by a UOL Group joint venture for a residential site on Orchard Boulevard was approved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Wednesday.
The developer submitted the highest of four bids for the 75,686 square foot (7,031 square metre) site along Orchard Boulevard with the winning bid equivalent to S$1,617 per square foot of built area. Read more>>
Brookfield Aims to Boost Debt on IFC Seoul to $2B
Brookfield Asset Management is set to increase its debt on the International Finance Center in Seoul, South Korea to up to KRW 2.7 trillion ($2 billion) and recover its equity investment as the Canadian alternative investment firm sees the complex’s value having risen to around KRW 4.1 trillion, banking sources said on Monday.
Brookfield acquired IFC Seoul, comprised of five-star hotel Conrad Seoul, three office towers and a shopping mall, at KRW 2.55 trillion from American Insurance Group in 2016. The Canadian asset manager borrowed KRW 1.81 trillion for the deal at the time. Read more>>
McDonald’s China Said to Attract Sovereign Wealth Funds
Middle Eastern and Chinese sovereign wealth funds are considering investing in McDonald’s Corp’s China business, according to people familiar with the matter.
Firms including Mubadala Investment Co, Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corp are in talks to jointly invest in the fast-food chain’s China operations as minority shareholders, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Read more>>
Prime US REIT H2 DPU Falls Over 90%
Prime US REIT’s distribution per unit for the second half fell over 90 percent year on year, as the manager opted to preserve a “substantial proportion of distributable income”.
In a bourse filing on Wednesday, the manager said DPU for the second half fell to $0.0025, down from $0.0303 in the year-ago period. The DPU payout is about 10 percent of the distributable income per unit of $0.024 for H2 2023. Read more>>
Cushman & Wakefield Reports 6% Drop in Revenue for 2023
If 2023 was a hard year for commercial real estate, then it was especially challenging for Cushman & Wakefield.
The 106-year-old brokerage reported a 6 percent decline in annual revenue during its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call Tuesday, citing double-digit annual declines in its leasing, capital markets and valuation businesses. Read more>>
Hong Kong Market Extends Gain as China Lending Rate Cut
Hong Kong share market logged second consecutive day of gains on Wednesday, with shares in real estate companies leading gains, after China announced its biggest ever reduction in the benchmark mortgage rate on Tuesday and on speculation the citys government will remove more curbs this month to stem an industry slump.
At closing bell, the benchmark Hang Seng Index surged 255.59 points, or 1.57 percent, to 16,503.10 to reach the highest level since 5 January. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index spurted 123.55 points, or 2.24 percent, to 5,642.78. Read more>>
BEA Pressured by Commercial Real Estate
Bank of East Asia said its net profit last year dipped 5.5 percent to HK$4.12 billion ($526 million) as it declared a second interim dividend of HK$0.18.
Accounting for 82 percent of loan loss provisions, China’s commercial real estate sector continued to be the main concern for asset quality, according to the bank. Read more>>
Japan’s Niseko Resorts Now a Black Diamond Run for Developers
The ski area of Niseko in northern Japan needs no introduction among the winter vacationers and wealthy elites of Asia. Its famed powder snow has drawn in hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over the years, accelerating a buildup of condos and hotels across two small Hokkaido towns to make it Asia’s best-known ski resort.
But in recent years, the prospects for developers to generate large profits from Niseko have dwindled as speculation from foreign investors drives some of the biggest increases in land prices in Japan. Surging costs of raw materials and a lack of construction labor are compounding the challenges in the remote area, putting a damper on the high investor interest to cash in on the nation’s tourism boom. Read more>>
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