Yuzhou CFO Steve Chiu with chairman Lam Lung On
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Chinese developer Yuzhou points fingers at its own auditing firm after reporting a massive profit plunge, Canadian asset management giant Brookfield reportedly reaches a deal to buy the remaining stake owned by others in its commercial real estate unit, and BentallGreenOak completes its acquisition of Carlyle Group’s Metropolitan property investment arm.
China’s Yuzhou Blames Ernst & Young for 97% Plunge in Profit
A Chinese real estate firm said Ernst & Young’s “strict” accounting standards were partly behind a collapse in the company’s profit last year.
Profitability was hurt because Yuzhou Group Holdings was unable to include some projects on its balance sheet, chief financial officer Steve Chiu said in an earnings call, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. E&Y required additional information, which the company couldn’t provide on time, Chiu said, according to the people. Read more>>
Brookfield Asset to Buy Remaining Stake in Real Estate Unit for $6.5B
Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management will buy the remaining stake it does not already own in its commercial real estate business Brookfield Property Partners for about $6.5 billion, the companies said Thursday.
The deal is an increase from the $5.9 billion the alternative asset manager offered in January this year. Read more>>
BentallGreenOak Closes Deal to Acquire Carlyle’s Metropolitan
BentallGreenOak on Friday announced that it had closed on the acquisition of Metropolitan Real Estate Equity Management from global investment firm Carlyle Group.
The deal combines BentallGreenOak’s core, core plus, value-add and debt strategies with Metropolitan’s integrated primary, secondary and co-investment real estate strategies to create a combined and diversified real estate platform with $55 billion in assets under management. Read more>>
India’s Second-Biggest Property IPO Set to Open Next Week
Macrotech Developers will sell INR 25 billion ($340 million) in shares next week in India’s second-largest initial public offering from a real estate firm.
This is the Mumbai-based company’s third regulatory approval to list since 2009, and the latest attempt comes as it needs cash to help repay debt. Read more>>
KKR Buys Seattle Building Leased to Amazon for S$580M
KKR & Co is buying a redeveloped former department store in downtown Seattle that’s been converted to offices for Amazon.com.
The New York-based investment firm paid $580 million for the building at 300 Pine Street, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. Read more>>
Hmlet Lays Off About 20% More Staff Amid Financial Woes
Co-living startup Hmlet on Thursday laid off more than 20 employees in middle- and upper-management roles to cut costs amid financial woes, the Business Times has learned. This represents about 20 percent of its headcount.
Staff across most departments — including those holding roles in technology, operations and marketing — were affected. Read more>>
ESG Drive Seen Pushing Up Valuations of Green Buildings
Valuations of green assets could get frothier in the short run, said panellists at Mapletree Investments’ annual lecture at the Singapore Management University.
Investment flows are chasing environmental, social and corporate governance assets, and pushing valuations up, said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, professor of real estate at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Read more>>
Hong Kong Hotel Leased to China Security Unit as ‘Commercial’ Move
The owner of a four-star Hong Kong hotel that was abruptly converted last year into the headquarters of a new Chinese national security agency said Thursday that the arrangement was purely commercial, in the company’s first public comments on the deal.
Jiang Hong, chairman of locally listed China Travel International Investment Hong Kong, told reporters during an online results conference that the Office for Safeguarding National Security had approached his company to lease the 266-room Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay. Read more>>
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