Seizure of Evergrande Hong Kong HQ Confirmed and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, the seizure of China Evergrande’s Hong Kong headquarters is confirmed by public records as the debt-saddled developer pledges to restart dozens of stalled projects. Meanwhile, New York-based SL Green announces its acquisition of a Park Avenue skyscraper once owned by failed Chinese conglomerate HNA.

Seizure of Evergrande’s $1B HK Headquarters Confirmed

China Evergrande Group’s Hong Kong headquarters building has been taken over by a receiver, according to a document from the Companies Registry, confirming previous reports that the developer had lost control over the tower worth more than $1 billion.

Alvarez & Marsal Asia Ltd has become the receiver controlling the China Evergrande Centre in the Wan Chai area, the record shows. It is unclear from the document who appointed Alvarez & Marsal. Read more>>

Evergrande Vows to Restart 38 Stalled Property Projects by Month’s End

China Evergrande has pledged to resume its remaining stalled projects by the end of the month, as the debt-laden developer tries to allay concerns that prompted some homebuyers to refuse to pay mortgages for unfinished apartments.

Construction will restart on 38 developments by 30 September, the company said late Monday, citing chairman Xu Jiayin’s weekly staff meeting. It has already resumed building at 668 of 706 total projects, it said. Read more>>

SL Green Announces Acquisition of HNA’s 245 Park Avenue

SL Green Realty Corp on Monday announced its acquisition of 245 Park Avenue, a 44-storey office tower in Midtown Manhattan. SL Green previously had a preferred equity investment in the property and continues to pursue collection of a $185 million arbitration award from the asset’s former owner, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

The property continues to be subject to mortgage and mezzanine loans totalling $1.8 billion that mature in June 2027 and have a combined fixed rate of 4.3 percent. Read more>>

GIC Sees Seoul Properties Double in Value

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC’s two owned Seoul landmarks, Gangnam Finance Center and Seoul Finance Center, brought huge profits as the office buildings’ book values soared over the past two decades.

The fair values of Gangnam Finance Center and Seoul Finance Center at the end of March were respectively KRW 2.34 trillion ($1.7 billion) and KRW 948.6 billion, according to a Financial Supervisory System disclosure on Tuesday. Read more>>

Frasers Centrepoint Trust to Acquire Additional 10% of Waterway Point

The trustee of Frasers Centrepoint Trust has entered into two agreements to acquire an additional 10 percent interest in Waterway Point, a four-storey suburban mall in Singapore’s Punggol area, for S$132.3 million ($95 million).

The transaction will involve FCT paying S$73.6 million to acquire 10 percent of Sapphire Star Trust, an entity that holds the retail units in Waterway Point, from vendor Sekisui House. FCT will also pay S$3,626.59 for a 10 percent stake in FC Retail Trustee, the trustee-manager of Sapphire Star Trust. Read more>>

Dismal Miami Quay Sales Signal ‘Depression’ in HK Home Market: Expert

Hong Kong’s housing market is in a “depression”, according to one leading property expert, who pointed to poor sales at a prime new development in the city centre amid a backdrop of falling home prices, an interest rate upcycle and a new wave of COVID-19 infections.

Only 41 of the 137 flats on sale at Miami Quay in Kai Tak have been sold, according to agents. Wheelock Properties, Henderson Land Development, New World Development and Empire Group priced the first 137 units of their Miami Quay flats at HK$23,250 ($2,963) per square foot on average after discounts earlier this month. Read more>>

HK Property Groups Get Flexible as Office Space Glut Grows

Hong Kong’s property developers are having to construct more flexible leasing offers to attract businesses, as the city faces more than 246 football fields of excess supply of office space by 2025.

With COVID-19 isolation policies tipping Hong Kong’s economy into recession, companies and banks such as Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank have downsized in the territory over the past two years. Pandemic measures have also caused an exodus of foreign and local residents and paused the return of mainland Chinese groups, which had been expected to take up space. Read more>>

WeWork India Looking to Raise $300M for Expansion

WeWork India, a unit of US-listed WeWork, is reportedly looking to raise $300 million to expand operations in India as companies and employees return to work and seek office space.

WeWork India is talking to Cerberus Capital, KKR and other private equity funds to raise the money and hopes to close the round by the end of the year, the Economic Times reported. “The demand has increased for quality work spaces,” a source told the paper. “People have started moving back to offices and this is creating more opportunities for established players like WeWork.” Read more>>

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