GIC to Invest $700M in Starbucks Korea and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore’s ever-active sovereign wealth fund is back in the news again today as GIC is said to be signing up for a 30 percent slice of Starbucks’ Korea operation, as the American coffee firm exits a joint venture with Shinsegae Group in the country.

Also in the headlines today, Mapletree Industrial Trust completes its latest US data centre buy and an LG unit plans to make all of its offices go green.

Singapore’s GIC to Invest $700M for 30% of Starbucks Korea

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Ltd. is set to sign an agreement next week to buy a 30% stake in Starbucks Korea from the coffeehouse chain’s parent company for 800 billion won ($700 million), according to investment banking sources.

As part of the upcoming deal, Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. is selling its remaining 20% stake in the South Korean joint venture to E-Mart Inc. which will eventually end up with a 70% stake in Starbucks Korea. E-Mart is Shinsegae Group’s supermarket chain. Read more>>

Mapletree Industrial Trust Completes $1.3B US Data Centre Buy

The manager of Singapore-listed Mapletree Industrial Trust announced on Friday that it had completed the purchase of 29 data centres in the United States from Sila Realty.

The Singapore REIT has paid a total of $1.34 billion to purchase the portfolio of server facilities across 18 US states, and now has a presence in 13 of the top 15 data centre markets in the United States. Read more>>

LG Unit to Power Korean Offices on All Renewable Energy

LG Display Co., a major South Korean display panel maker, said on Monday it is shifting to 100% renewable energy to power all its business offices in the country.

The move is in line with the company’s strengthened environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards and designed to comply with the government initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, it said. Read more>>

Residential Plot in Hong Kong’s New Territories Attracts 12 Bids

A medium-sized residential site in one of the least developed areas of Hong Kong has generated a strong response from developers vying to get their hands on some of the limited land available in the world’s most expensive property market.

Twelve bids were submitted for the site – called Area 24 – in the Kwu Tung area of Hong Kong’s northern New Territories before the tender closed on Friday at noon. The developers are betting on future housing demand in the sparsely populated area once transport links have been completed in a few years’ time. Read more>>

Kuok Group Singapore Condo Project Sells 85% of Units on Launch Weekend

Condominium project Pasir Ris 8 has sold 415 units or 85 per cent of the total inventory of 487 apartments over its launch weekend, developer Allgreen Properties, a unit of Hong Kong’s Kuok Group, disclosed in response to queries from The Business Times on Sunday.

Prices for the units sold ranged between S$1,400 per square foot (psf) all the way up to a whopping S$2,000 psf. The average price was close to S$1,600 psf. Read more>>

Hong Kong Home Sales Set to Slow as Prices Rise

Primary property transactions are expected to fall 20 percent from a month ago to 1,500 in July as home prices keep rising, according to Centaline Property Agency.

Louis Chan Wing-kit, Asia-Pacific vice-chairman of the residential division at Centaline Property Agency, said more than 1,100 primary property transactions have been recorded this month while the Centa-City Leading Index, which reflects secondary residential property prices, has been hovering at record highs. Read more>>

Hong Kong Banks May Rescind Evergrande Mortgage Ban

Some banks in Hong Kong are reportedly rethinking an earlier decision to halt mortgages for unfinished projects by debt-ridden Chinese property giant Evergrande after being questioned by the local regulator.

At least seven banks originally said they would no longer offer mortgages for two of China Evergrande’s uncompleted projects in Hong Kong. But some banks are considering to reverse the halt and resume mortgages for Evergrande’s uncompleted projects in the city after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reportedly questioned their original decision last Thursday. Read more>>

Hong Kong Homebuyers Hold Off for Fresh Project Launches

A sale of new flats in the west of Hong Kong’s New Territories failed to hit the spot with buyers on Sunday, with only half of the 79 small units available being snapped up.

But property agents said the modest sales at K&K Property’s project SkyeH!, which has a total of 112 units, were not indicative of the overall state of the city’s real estate market. They said that because all the units in the development are one-bedroom flats, it has mostly attracted younger, cost-conscious first-time homebuyers. Read more>>

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