The owners of International Plaza are trying for Singapore’s biggest building sale ever
In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore’s International Plaza is relaunched for collective sale at $2 billion, crypto exchange BitMEX says it’s laying off a quarter of its global workforce, and China Evergrande reportedly reaches an agreement with an offshore creditor group on advisor fees.
Singapore’s International Plaza on the Market for $2B
International Plaza, a commercial project in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar area, has been relaunched for collective sale via tender with an unchanged reserve price of S$2.7 billion ($1.99 billion), sole marketing agent Edmund Tie said Monday.
The tender will close on 29 April at 3pm. The previous launch had closed last November, weeks after the commercial development failed to get the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s nod for the Central Business District Incentive Scheme. Read more>>
BitMEX Layoffs Could Mean Change at Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Center
BitMEX is laying off a quarter of its global workforce of 300, as the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange streamlines its business amid heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Work-from-home operations, exacerbated by the global COVID-19 pandemic, are likely to leave BitMEX needing a smaller real estate footprint, putting its Cheung Kong Center lease into question when it is due for renewal next year, according to a source familiar with the matter. BiMEX declined to comment about further redundancies. Read more>>
Evergrande Agrees to Pay Fees for Offshore Creditor Group
China Evergrande has agreed to pay the advisor fees of a bondholder group working with the cash-starved property developer to restructure debt, and to share more information with the creditors, according to people with knowledge of the agreement, who asked not to be named discussing private deal talks.
The creditors, advised by Moelis & Co and Kirkland & Ellis, began to prepare for negotiations last October, after Evergrande delayed interest payments on one of its offshore bonds and reported that certain asset-sale plans had collapsed. Read more>>
PwC Points to Potential Insolvency for SGX-Listed EC World REIT
EC World REIT‘s independent auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has cited a material uncertainty over the REIT’s ability to refinance existing borrowings before they become due for repayment, the trust said in a filing with the SGX on Tuesday.
But the REIT said both its onshore and offshore teams were in the final stages of negotiation on refinancing loans due this year. Read more>>
Lendlease REIT’s S$200M in Perpetual Securities 5.3 Times Subscribed
The first perpetual securities to be issued by a Singapore REIT this year saw strong demand from investors, being subscribed 5.3 times, with orders exceeding S$780 million ($575.3 million), the issuing REIT said Monday.
In a bourse filing, Lendlease Global Commercial REIT said the demand was so robust that the issuance of the securities was upsized to S$200 million from the original target size of S$150 million. Read more>>
Hong Kong Housing Deals Plumbed 26-Month Low in March
Housing transactions in Hong Kong hit a 26-month low in March because of higher borrowing costs and a devastating fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, the city’s total number of transactions, including those involving homes, shops, industrial units and car parking spaces, also hit a 26-month low last month. This number dropped to 3,828 deals valued at HK$34.8 billion ($4.4 billion), representing a month-to-month decline of 3.4 percent, according to Midland Realty data. Read more>>
Mainland Cities Roll Back Rules to Revive Housing Markets
China’s local government authorities are slowly ripping up old restrictive rules to revive a floundering property market, testing the resolve of policymakers in Beijing who have been reluctant to reverse its market-tightening policy.
Fuzhou, the capital of southern Fujian province, last week started allowing non-locals to buy homes in the city without providing any proof of mandatory residency or pension fund as security, a departure from regulatory norms. Quzhou, in eastern Zhejiang province, last week lifted curbs on buying and selling. Read more>>
Cromwell Buys Adelaide Office Building for $62M
ESR-backed real estate investor and fund manager Cromwell Property Group has acquired Chesser House on Grenfell Street in the Adelaide CBD for its direct property fund in an A$81.35 million ($62 million) deal.
Comprising more than 11,000 square metres (118,403 square feet), 95 Grenfell Street was sold on a passing yield of 5.12 percent and a core capitalisation rate of 5.5 percent by its owners, Harmony Property Investments and Arc Equity Partners. Read more>>
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