Seaworld Buyer Said Planning $3B US Senior Living Deal and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

China’s Zhonghong Zhuoye Group first hit the headlines three months ago with its $449 million purchase of a stake in Seaworld from Blackstone. Now the Chinese conglomerate is back in the news with plans for a $3 billion buyout of a US senior living provider. Also getting some ink today, a Hong Kong financier pays $664k for a parking space and the latest update on Wu Xiaohui’s unplanned vacation from Anbang. Read on for all these stories and more.

Seaworld Buyer Said Planning $3B Bid for US Senior Living Provider

Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co Ltd, the Chinese real estate and leisure group which last month bought a stake in SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (SEAS.N), is in talks to acquire Brookdale Senior Living Inc (BKD.N), people familiar with the matter said.

The deal would be by far the biggest acquisition by a Chinese company in the U.S. senior care sector, and a key test of the U.S. government’s openness to Chinese investments in key healthcare services industries. Read more>>

Hong Kong Now Home to World’s Most Expensive Parking Space

A Hong Kong executive has paid HK$5.18 million (US$664,260) for space to leave his vehicle, setting yet another record in the costliest major urban centre on earth to become the owner of the world’s most expensive car parking spot.

Kwan Wai-ming, the executive director of Huarong Investment Stock Corp, paid the record price for his third parking spot at the Upton apartment complex in western Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun. He had already spent a total of HK$88.55 million since 2014 for two apartment units, and three parking spaces at the 48-storey complex. Read more>>

Anbang Boss’ Detention Part of Insurance Industry Probe

Chinese investigators who detained Wu Xiaohui, chairman of Anbang Insurance Group, are carrying out a wide probe that includes looking into the sources of funding for the firm’s acquisitions overseas, possible market manipulation by insurers, and “economic crimes,” people familiar with the matter said.

Wu is being questioned in a joint investigation including the police and a special unit of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the people said, asking not to be identified because the probe is confidential. The scrutiny doesn’t mean Wu is accused of any crime or will face charges, they said. Read more>>

Perennial Sets Up First Health Care Facility in SG

Perennial Real Estate Holdings will be setting up a healthcare facility in Singapore’s Orchard Road precinct. This Ming Yi Guan facility will be Beijing Hospital of TCM’s first treatment facility in Singapore and South East Asia, as well as the first outside of China.

Ming Yi Guan will be set up at The House of Tan Yeok Nee, which has a total gross floor area of about 29,900 square feet, making it the largest integrated TCM treatment facility in Singapore. Read more>>

Take a Tour of a $500,000, 161 Sq Ft Home

That’s about 161 square feet — and the size of a Hong Kong micro-apartment sold by property giant Henderson Land Development Co for just less than $500,000. An actual Tesla Model X in Hong Kong starts at around $150,000.

As Hong Kong housing prices reach new highs and keep the city the most unaffordable for housing in the world, developers including billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd., Kowloon Development Co. and Henderson Land have been offering more and more units of smaller and smaller size. Another developer, Chun Wo Property Development Ltd., plans to build apartments as small as 128 square feet — about the size of a California garden shed. Read more>>

Tracking Hong Kong’s Home Price Growth Since 1997

As the Union Jack fluttered over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for the last time on June 30, 1997, home prices were hovering near record highs and sellout crowds at new projects were the norm.

Twenty years on, property price have hit fresh records and buyers are still thronging to buy new apartments. This time around, the boom has been accompanied by demand from another source: mainland developers. Read more>>

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