Wanda chair Wang Jianlin is going to have to sweeten his offer to pre-IPO investors (Getty Images)
China’s one-time richest man leads Asia’s real estate headlines today with a report that pre-IPO investors in Wang Jianlin’s Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management have rejected a debt repayment proposal. Also in the news, China’s home sales slide gathered pace in October, as the country’s leadership is said to plan a $137 billion bailout plan for the property market.
Wanda Investors Said to Reject Debt Restructuring Proposal
Investors in Dalian Wanda Group’s mall unit have turned down an initial proposal by the Chinese conglomerate to delay the repayment of RMB 30 billion ($4.1 billion) plus interest due by year-end, according to people familiar with the matter.
Wanda proposed repaying investors in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group Co. via installments over four years, while offering a more than 20 percent stake in the unit as collateral, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Read more>>
China Home Sales Slide Accelerated in October
China’s property sales fell at a faster pace in October and investment in real estate slumped, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting the crisis-hit sector is yet to emerge from its decline despite Beijing’s recent support efforts.
Property sales by floor area fell 20.33 percent year-on-year against a 19.77 percent fall in September, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Sales fell 7.8 percent year-on-year in January-October, compared with a 7.5 percent slide in the first nine months of 2023. Read more>>
China Mulls $137B in New Funds to Aid Housing Market
China plans to provide at least RMB 1 trillion ($137 billion) in low-cost financing to the nation’s urban village renovation and affordable housing programmes in its latest effort to shore up the struggling property market, according to people familiar with the matter.
The People’s Bank of China would inject funds in phases through policy banks with the money ultimately trickling down to households for home purchases, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Officials are considering options including the so-called Pledged Supplemental Lending and special loans, the people said, adding that the government may take the first step as soon as this month. Read more>>
Warburg Pincus Completes Exit From India Retail Real Estate JV
Global investment giant Warburg Pincus has completed its exit from a real estate joint venture in India, selling its stake for over INR 6 billion ($72 million) to its partner, the Runwal Group.
The move concludes a partnership formed in 2019 to develop retail-led, mixed-use properties across key Indian cities. The report said that initially the New York-based investor had invested INR 2.5 billion in the venture, aiming to capitalise on India’s burgeoning retail market, characterised by a sizeable population and increasing disposable incomes. The partnership marked Warburg Pincus’s first foray into India’s mall platform sector, following successful retail investments in China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Read more>>
Vietnam’s Novaland Proposes Paying Back Bond With Homes
Novaland, the second-largest property firm in Vietnam, has proposed utilising properties from a luxury development in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to pay off the principal and interest on three bond lots. The company, in a letter sent to the bondholders of the NVLH2123009, NVLH2123014 and NVLH2224006 bond lots, announced its intention to use assets from The Grand Manhattan project in District 1 to settle the outstanding debt.
To date, Novaland has overdue payments for the NVLH2123009 and NVLH2123014 bond lots, which were due in February and May, respectively. Read more>>
Seoul Office Market Leads the World with 98% Occupancy
From London to New York, nobody wants to be a commercial landlord these days. But in the South Korean capital, owners of office towers are living the boom life.
Seoul’s office market is every landlord’s dream: More than 98 percent of Grade A offices are occupied, with rents surging 15 percent from last year. The competition for space is so fierce that when there was a floor available in Parnas Tower at the heart of the prestigious Gangnam district, a dozen domestic and international companies turned up in a tender to outbid each other. Read more>>
Tokyo Commercial Building Said to Have Sold for $165M
The Forest Hills retail and office building in Tokyo’s Omotesando Ward is reported to have sold for JPY 25 billion ($165 million). Back in April, the buyer, Rinnai Corporation, announced the acquisition for an undisclosed price. The gas appliance manufacturer plans to open a large showroom and customer experience centre within the building.
Forest Hills was built in 1992 as an office-retail tenant complex comprised of two buildings, East and West. The combined gross floor area is 5,551 square metres (59,700 square feet) and the lot size is 1,843 square metres. The property is a six-minute walk from Omotesando station and located in a low-rise neighbourhood with apartments and stores. Read more>>
India’s Adani Plans $1.5B Boost for Data Centre Division
Adani Enterprises, the flagship of billionaire Gautam Adani, will spend around $1.5 billion on its fledgling data centre business in the next three years, as growth focus returns at the Indian conglomerate after a short-seller attack sent it into months of damage control.
The annual capital expenditure on the data center business, called AdaniConnex — a joint venture with global data centre provider EdgeConnex — is expected to be about $500 million this year and in each of the next two years, Jugeshinder Singh, Adani Enterprises chief financial officer, told analysts according to a filing late Wednesday. Read more>>
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