State-Owned Giants are Eating Hong Kong and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Leading today’s headlines, Hong Kong wakes up to a new one country, one set of SOEs system, Asia’s biggest REIT pays out 8.7 percent to its unit-holders and Singapore gets ready to put two more public housing projects up for resale. Read on for all these stories and more.

How China’s State-Owned Giants are Eating Hong Kong

What a difference 20 years makes. Back when Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the British colony’s economy was dominated by homegrown tycoons such as Li Ka-shing and colonial-era conglomerates such as Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd., whose influence dates back to the Opium Wars.

Now, in 2017, a new sheriff is coming to town, so to speak. While Li and his peers are still big, the influence of local tycoons in parts of Hong Kong’s economy is waning while that of mainland Chinese companies is surging—especially in finance, real estate and telecommunications. China’s prevalence continues to grow in other sectors as well. Read more>>

Link REIT Reports 8.7% Rise in Distributable Profit

Link Real Estate Investment Trust (0823.HK) reported a 8.7% rise in distributable profit to unitholders for the full year ended March, on higher rental income and fair-value gains from investment properties.

The Hong Kong-listed real-estate investment trust said Wednesday that its full-year distributable profit to unitholders was 17.71 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$ 2.27 billion), up from HK$16.30 billion. The trust’s operating profit for the year was HK$18.15 billion, up 4.3% from HK$17.41 billion from a year earlier. Read more>>

China Loosens Rules on Public Housing Funds

China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is accelerating the building of a platform aimed at raising the efficiency of public housing funds, as local governments struggle with real-estate destocking in some smaller cities.

The platform, set to be in service by the end of June, will allow public housing funds – also known as housing provident funds – to be transferred more freely between cities amid the Chinese workforce’s increasingly rapid movement between cities, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Read more>>

Singapore Putting Two More Public Housing Projects on Sale

Two privatised HUDC estates are gunning for collective sales in the wake of lucrative sales of two other properties of this type – Rio Casa and Eunosville – in recent weeks.

The 560-unit Tampines Court will likely launch its tender in July, while 336-unit Florence Regency in Hougang is in the early stages of the sales process. The Straits Times understands that Tampines Court owners are seeking at least $960 million for the large Tampines Street 11 site, spanning over 702,000 sq ft. Read more>>

Wanda Branches Out into Rock and Roll Marathons

Dalian Wanda Group has continued its buying spree in sports industry with a latest addition —a rock ‘n’ roll marathon organizer.The conglomerate’s triathlon arm Ironman announced the acquisition of Competitor Group (CGI) and its sports media outlets over the weekend.

Headquartered in San Diego, CGI holds a rock ‘n’ roll marathon series in 30 cities that attracts over 600,000 athletes each year, alongside with some 20 other running races worldwide, according to the company. Read more>>

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