WeWork India Scrambles After $100M Funding Deal Falls Through and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

WeWork’s India franchise is searching for new backers

The troubles of America’s biggest co-working company are being felt globally as the challenges of leasing desks in India lead Mingtiandi’s roundup of real estate headlines today with the news that Embassy Group, which set up the franchise, is selling off over $500 million in assets to fund the office sharing startup after a funding deal with a local bank fell through.

In other news around the region, a Singapore-listed logistics REIT raised S$50 million through an equity sale which was two times oversubscribed while the Lion City’s biggest developer succeeds in selling S$500 million in perpetual debt at under 4 percent.

All these stories and more are in Mingtiandi’s news roundup.

WeWork India Scrambles for New Cash as $100M Funding Deal Collapses

WeWork’s India franchise has seen talks with existing backer ICICI Bank on $100 million in new funding break down since The We Company’s botched stock market launch and is in discussions on raising $200 million from other investors, the venture’s chief shareholder Jitu Virwani said.

Real estate mogul Virwani’s Embassy Group, backed by US private equity fund Blackstone Group, set up WeWork India two years ago and had been in talks to sell the bulk of the operation to the brand’s global parent The We Company. Read more>>

WeWork Continues to Open Co-working Locations in Singapore

Co-working space operator WeWork has launched a new space in the Central Business District (CBD) and will add two more locations here in Singapore by the end of the year.

It will have a total of 12 locations in Singapore by this December, which will mark its two-year anniversary in the Republic. Read more>>

Metro Sells China Retail Operations to Local Competitor Wumart

German wholesaler Metro (B4B.DE) has agreed to sell a majority stake in its Chinese operations to local retailer Wumart, continuing a drive to simplify its business and focus on its core customers in the hospitality industry.

Metro said on Friday the deal, which confirms an earlier Reuters story, gave the Chinese unit an enterprise value of 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) and that the German group would retain a 20% stake in a joint venture called Metro Wumart China. Read more>>

CapitaLand Prices S$500M Perp Notes at 3.65%

CapitaLand has priced a new S$500 million ($364 million) fixed rate perpetual issue at 3.65 percent.

Sold on Thursday, orders exceeded S$900 million which allowed the notes to be priced lower than the initial guidance of around 3.85 per cent. Read more>>

SPH REIT Boosted by Newly Acquired Assets

Contributions from two new malls and positive rental reversions boosted the performance of retail landlord SPH REIT, which reported a 2.1 percent year-on-year increase in distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.46 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Gross revenue for the quarter rose 10.2 percent year on year to S$58.37 million on the back of contributions from The Rail Mall in Singapore and Figtree Grove Shopping Centre south of Sydney. Read more>>

ESR-REIT Nets S$50M in Oversubscribed Preferential Offering

ESR-REIT has netted gross proceeds of S$50 million from a more than twice oversubscribed preferential offering, with no additional units alloted beyond the original amount it had set out to raise.

The funds include sponsor ESR Cayman’s acceptance of its alloted 8.8 million units, or about S$4.5 million based on the issue price of S$0.51 per unit. Read more>>

“Golden Week” Sales Lowest in Five Years

Property sales in China’s major cities saw one of their worst “golden week” holidays in years, as buyers held back amid a slowing economy and tight restrictions on mortgage loans.

Sales of new homes in Beijing dropped to their lowest level since 2014 during the week following the National Day holiday, according to data from the property information portal zhuge.com. Read more>>

ESR Looks to Offload Aussie Office

Asian logistics and office giant ESR has put a A$50 million office block in the western Sydney hub of Liverpool up for sale as it recycles some assets it picked up from taking Propertylink private last year.

The group is selling 211 Northumberland Street in the Liverpool CBD, which was originally picked up as part of the Denison portfolio that Propertylink bought for A$142m in 2016. Read more>>

Tune in again tomorrow for more news, and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on Twitter, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.

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