Taiwan’s Tsai Family Revealed as Buyer of Swire SG Project and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In our latest roundup of regional news headlines, snack food kings from Taiwan are revealed as the buyers of all units at a Singapore luxury development, Mapletree’s European office fund jumps on the tokenisation bandwagon, and Japan’s largest bank plans to rebuild its 40-year-old headquarters in Tokyo’s finance district.

Taiwan’s Tsai Family Revealed as Buyer of Swire Singapore Project

The Tsai family behind Taiwan snack food giant Want Want China Holdings is the party that bought all 20 units at the completed freehold luxe development, Eden, at 2 Draycott Park.

The S$293 million ($218.8 million) transaction involves three tranches, with the Hong Kong-listed group’s chairman, Tsai Eng-Meng, purchasing one apartment. His son Shao Chung, who is also an executive director of the company, is picking up 18 units in one deal, as well as the remaining unit in a separate transaction. Read more>>

Slice of Mapletree European Office Fund Now Tokenised

Digital securities platform iSTOX has, for the first time, tokenised a private real estate investment trust from property giant Mapletree Investments, reducing the investment ticket into the fund for 50 accredited investors.

The tokenisation is for Mapletree’s latest European office fund, Mapletree Europe Income Trust (MERIT). Read more>>

Varde Loans $155 Million for Pair of India Office Developments

Varde Partners, a global alternative investment firm, announced that it has provided senior construction financing on two pre-leased office assets in the Gachibowli Financial District of Hyderabad.

The $155 million facility will be used to refinance and fund to completion over 2.5 million square feet (232,258 square metres) across the two Grade A developments owned by Phoenix Group. To date, over 1.5 million square feet has been pre-let to two multinational companies. Read more>>

MUFG Bank to Rebuild Tokyo Headquarters for Post-Pandemic Work

Japan’s largest bank will rebuild its 40-year-old headquarters in Tokyo’s financial district as the lender prepares for a post-COVID world that will also see some compliance roles shift to India.

The new building will “significantly reduce” facility expenses for the financial group by bringing together about 19,000 workers who are currently located in nine different locations across the downtown area of the Japanese capital, said Junichi Hanzawa, chief executive of MUFG Bank, a core unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Read more>>

Facing Pressure at Home, Chinese Tech Giants Expand in Singapore

Chinese tech giants are expanding in Singapore as they face a crackdown at home and growing pressure in other key markets — but they may struggle to find talent in the city-state.

Messaging-and-gaming behemoth Tencent is opening a hub and TikTok owner ByteDance is on a hiring spree after establishing a regional HQ, while e-commerce giant Alibaba is investing in property and recruiting. Read more>>

Hong Kong Strata Office Deals to Gather Pace, Says Colliers

Since the removal of the double stamp duty on non-residential property deals in November 2020, there has been an uptick of strata-title office transactions in Hong Kong, Colliers said in a report.

Overall investment volume and strata-title office transactions are expected to increase this year, as the market sees more liquidity due to a higher level of investment capital, sustained expectation of low-interest rates, and closer business opportunities with the Greater Bay Area. Read more>>

Singapore Maxwell House Sale Hopes to Be Good to the Last Flat

Maxwell House is up for sale via a second public tender at a lower reserve price of S$268 million ($200.2 million), down from S$295 million in its first en bloc bid in September 2020.

Located at 20 Maxwell Road, the 13-storey commercial building sits on a trapezoidal island plot spanning 41,799 square feet (3,883 square metres), with views from all four sides of the building. Read more>>

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