Wing Tai Holding chairman Cheng Wai Keung tries on his poker face while negotiating a London acquisition
In what could be a north Asia to southeast Asia handoff, the lead story in today’s collection of real estate headlines from the region tracks Singaporean developer Wing Tai’s potential purchase of a $548 million London asset from Korea’s Samsung Life Insurance. Another Southeast Asian player, ARA Asset Management, makes the news with reports this week of a retail acquisition and industrial investments, and US-based PGIM looks like it is liquidating a set of Malaysian malls. Read on for all the details on these stories and more.
Wing Tai in Talks to Buy London Bank HQ for $548M
Samsung Life Insurance Co. is in talks to sell Commerzbank AG’s City of London headquarters to Singapore-based Wing Tai Holdings Ltd., two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Samsung Life is seeking about 425 million pounds ($548 million) for the 30 Gresham Street building. The terms of the deal haven’t yet been finalized and there’s no guarantee that the transaction will be a completed, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Read more>>
ARA Asset Management Said Buying PJ Shopping Centre From PGIM’s AsiaMalls
Malaysian shopping centre developer AsiaMalls Sdn Bhd is said to be close to concluding a deal to sell the Setapak Central Mall in Kuala Lumpur to Singapore’s ARA Asset Management for an undisclosed sum.
The account of the impending sale of the former Parkson property in the Malaysian capital is the third reported disposal of an AsiaMalls shopping centre within the last week. If all three deals are eventually concluded, AsiaMalls, which holds and manages properties owned by a PGIM fund, would be reducing its five centre portfolio to two properties. Read more>>
AsiaMalls Said to Have Sold PJ Shopping Centre for $44M
PGIM-controlled AsiaMalls Sdn Bhd, which has been seeking a buyer for the SStwo Mall in Petaling Jaya for about three years, is understood to have sold the suburban shopping centre to Puchong-based DK Group for an estimated RM180 million in a deal completed in late July.
Sources said the mall, which was originally completed in 2010 but closed down due to poor performance in 2015, was sold at below what the owner had sought at between RM200 million and RM250 million, but at par with its construction cost. Read more>>
ARA Raises Stake in Cache Logistics Trust to 9.21%
ARA Asset Management, the manager of Cache Logistics Trust, has raised its stake in the warehouse owner to 9.21 per cent through a married deal with Cache’s sponsor CWT.
CWT, which was acquired by the Chinese HNA Group last year, sold all its 43.66 million units in Cache to ARA for S$0.74 per unit on Aug 30, according to an exchange filing on Monday. Read more>>
ESR-REIT to Resume Trading After Merger with Viva Approved
ESR-REIT requested a lifting of its trading halt on the Singapore exchange on Monday morning before trading hours began, days after unit holders approved a merger with Viva Industrial Trust (VIT) that brings the real estate investment trust (Reit) closer towards becoming Singapore’s fourth-largest industrial property trust.
Viva Industrial Trust also requested a lift of its trading halt the same morning. At ESR-REIT’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Aug 31, holders of 94.2 per cent of non-abstaining units that voted endorsed the key resolution to approve the merger. Read more>>
Duterte Says Landing International’s Deal for Manila Casino is DOA
A Philippine presidential spokesperson said on Friday that the land lease contract for a Manila casino project by Hong Kong-listed Landing International Development Ltd would be “cancelled” as it was “found to be void from the start”, several local media reported.
The spokesperson, Harry Roque, gave the comments a day after the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had completed a review of the land deal; which had involved a public body – the Nayong Pilipino Foundation – and Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corp, a local subsidiary of Landing International. Read more>>
Aoyuan Hopes for HK$450M Profit From HK Residential Project
Aoyuan, the acquisitive mainland China developer, is hoping to generate a HK$450 million (US$57.33 million) profit from the sale of residential units being created in a former 12-storey commercial building in Kwai Chung, in Hong Kong’s New Territories.
The company has pencilled in a total target sales price of HK$1.4 billion for completed flats in the building, after buying it in June for HK$950 million, its second move into the Hong Kong market. 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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