In the latest roundup of regional news headlines, Standard Chartered is reportedly relinquishing the lease on eight floors it occupies in its namesake Hong Kong tower, Brookfield raises $233 million from its India REIT IPO, and mainland developer China Evergrande gets an early sales boost in 2021.
Standard Chartered Gives Up 11 Office Floors in Hong Kong
Standard Chartered is giving up several floors in its main offices in Hong Kong, as global banks accelerate efforts to cut costs and the pandemic upends work styles.
The UK lender is relinquishing the lease on eight floors it occupies in its Standard Chartered Bank Building in Central, and it will rent out three levels in its Kwun Tong office that it owns, according to marketing materials seen by Bloomberg. The office space will become available between next month and April next year. Read more>>
Li Ka-shing Deputy Receives $126M Bid for Pair of HK Mansions
Canning Fok Kin-ning, the right-hand man of tycoon Li Ka-shing, has put two mansions located at the southern tip of Hong Kong Island on the market, taking advantage of resilient prices for high-end real estate to lock in the returns on his investments.
Two houses on 64 and 66 Chung Hom Kok Road near Stanley in the island’s Southern district, considered rare assets by sales agents, have received a tentative combined offer of HK$980 million ($126.4 million), according to people familiar with the sale. Read more>>
Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Politicians Sell Homes Amid Crackdown
Some of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy politicians have begun offloading long-held properties as China steps up its control over the city.
Lee Cheuk-yan, Lam Cheuk-ting, Au Nok-hin and Audrey Eu have each sold apartments recently, according to documents lodged with the Land Registry. Read more>>
Brookfield India REIT IPO Raises $233M From Anchor Investors
Brookfield India REIT’s IPO opened for subscription on Wednesday at a price band of INR 274-275. The global investment firm on Tuesday raised INR 1,710 crore ($233 million) from anchor investors ahead of its public issue. The REIT will be the third listed trust in India if it is successfully subscribed. The public issue for the firm will close on Friday.
The first trust, Embassy Office Parks REIT, backed by Blackstone and Embassy Group, was listed in April 2019 after raising INR 4,750 crore. Mindspace Business Parks REIT, owned by K Raheja and Blackstone, was listed last August after raising INR 4,500 crore. Read more>>
Korea’s NPS to Expand Overseas Investment Platforms
National Pension Service (NPS) Investment Management is planning to beef up overseas investment platforms in cooperation with leading investment companies and pension funds to expand its sources of investment returns.
In October last year, NPS formed a partnership with APG in the Netherlands for joint real asset investment in Europe and Asia. The assets under management of APG and NPS are KRW 698 trillion and KRW 777 trillion ($620 billion and $690 billion), respectively. Read more>>
Office Floors at Singapore’s Suntec Tower 2 on Market for $57M
Two floors of strata offices at Suntec Tower 2 have been put up for sale via an expression of interest exercise by Cushman & Wakefield.
The office spaces are located on the sixth and 11th floors and each has a strata floor area of 14,381 square feet (1,336 square metres). The guide price for the properties is S$76 million ($57 million), which translates to an average price of S$2,642 per square foot on the strata area. Read more>>
Evergrande Sees Best Start to Year Since 2018 as Sales Surge
China Evergrande Group saw its sales off to the best start in three years, as the country’s monetary easing policies drove up real estate demand.
One of China’s largest developers recorded a 43 percent jump in January sales to RMB 58.1 billion ($9 billion), the largest monthly increase since 2018, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the company. Average selling prices rose 1.4 percent from December, following a brief decline amid fears of a cash crunch that sent the property giant’s onshore bonds to record lows. Read more>>
South Korea to Boost Seoul Housing Supply by 10%
South Korea said on Thursday that it would significantly ramp up construction of new houses across the country in coming years to tackle surging home prices, a plan that would increase the number of dwellings in Seoul by 10 percent.
President Moon Jae In’s government plans to add 830,000 new homes by 2025 across the country, 320,000 of which will be in Seoul. Read more>>
Wing Tai Holdings’ H1 Net Profit Jumps 73.1% to S$56.8M
SGX-listed property and retail player Wing Tai Holdings saw its net profit rise by 73.1 percent to S$56.8 million ($42.5 million) for the half year ended 31 December 2020, thanks to a higher contribution from its development properties.
The bottom line jumped from S$32.8 million in the corresponding period a year ago, on the back of a 32.7 percent increase in revenue. Read more>>
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