S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of Asia-Pacific real estate news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that may require a subscription.
Subbing for Dalian Wanda
* Under pressure from the mainland government to cut back on its overseas investments, Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. this week revealed that it backed out of its June agreement to buy the 10-acre Nine Elms Square site in London for £470 million. Replacing it as the buyer were its mainland peers Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd. and C C Land Holdings Ltd.
Guangzhou R&F is no stranger to Dalian Wanda; it is the same company that joined Dalian Wanda added to its landmark deal with Sunac China Holdings Ltd. C C Land, on the other hand, made headlines in the U.K. in May when it bought the Cheesegrater building for a record £1.15 billion.
Morgan Stanley's megalopolis analysis
* Morgan Stanley analysts said China's Pearl River Delta megalopolis has the potential to create a 9.6 trillion Chinese yuan real estate market, Bloomberg News reported. The analysts were also reported to have said in a research note that seven smaller cities in the area such as Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing are expected to see the biggest growth in their respective property markets by 2030.
The analysts also recommended the shares of Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd., China Overseas Grand Oceans Group Ltd., Yuexiu Property Co. Ltd., Agile Group Holdings Ltd. and CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. due to their high exposure in the region, Bloomberg reported.
The economic growth in the Pearl River Delta, which is being rebranded as China's Greater Bay Area, is expected to be on par with other great bay areas in the world, such as those in San Francisco, New York and Tokyo, according to an Aug. 15 research report from Colliers International. The area comprises 11 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, which were disrupted this week by Typhoon Hato.
Knockout deals
* From a S$1 billion market in 2016, the en-bloc sale of condominiums in Singapore has already more than doubled and is set to see more sales in 2017. According to The (Singapore) Business Times, total collective-sale transactions year-to-date have reached S$2.5 billion, with at least five more condominiums in the en-bloc pipeline.
The latest development to be sold by private homeowners is the Tampines Court estate, which was sold for S$970 million. New owner Sim Lian Development Pte. Ltd. is planning to build up to 2,609 apartments at the site.
* The Singapore bourse is, pending satisfaction of certain conditions, going to welcome a €1 billion IPO by the end of September. Sponsored by Australia-listed Cromwell Property Group, the new real estate investment trust is focused on European real estate assets.
The listing of Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust received eligibility approval from Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd. on Aug. 23.
All-star players
* Some of Asia's biggest real estate developers reported their first-half 2017 earnings in the week to Aug. 25. In Australia, Scentre Group saw a 3.5% year-over-year increase in its funds from operations to A$638.1 million, or 12.01 Australian cents per security.
* In China and Hong Kong, Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd.'s profit attributable to equity shareholders rose 64% to HK$14.16 billion, Sino-Ocean Group Holding Ltd.'s attributable profit jumped 84% to 2.67 billion yuan, China Vanke Co. Ltd.'s attributable profit increased 36.47% to 7.30 billion yuan, China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd.'s attributable profit climbed 25.2% to about HK$21.65 billion and Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd.'s gross profit soared 42.1% to 17.10 billion yuan in the reported period.
Bucking the trend of a year-over-year boost was China Resources Land Ltd., which saw a 48.1% decline in core profit attributable to owners of the company, excluding revaluation gains, to HK$3.25 billion.
Get the ball rolling
* Shareholders of Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. approved changing the company's name to better fit its diversified investments strategy. Formerly a pure-play real estate company, Cheung Kong is now named CK Asset Holdings Ltd.
Similarly, Lifestyle Properties Development Ltd. received all necessary approvals to change its name to Sansheng Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. to refresh its corporate image.
* Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. filed a proposal to develop two residential towers in Los Angeles. If all goes according to plan, the development will be completed by 2021.
* WeWork Cos. plans to use US$1.4 billion from the US$4.4 billion investment agreement deal it secured from SoftBank Group Corp. and Softbank Vision Fund on its expansion drive in Asia, particularly in China, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea.
Hires and Fires Asia-Pacific: Real Estate moves through Aug. 22: S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of recent significant management and board changes and personnel moves in the Asia-Pacific real estate industry.
Celestyn Wong contributed to this report.