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Blackstone mall hits market for A$700M; Yuhu allots A$3B for Wanda site projects

* Blackstone Group LP, in what could be the biggest retail property divestment in Australia in 2018, is selling the Top Ryde City shopping center in Sydney for approximately A$700 million.

The 76,958-square-meter asset, which marked the U.S.-based private equity giant's first-ever retail property purchase Down Under, is part of a more than A$3 billion regional and subregional mall portfolio, which the group was planning to sell in April 2017, and is being sold through JLL head of retail investments for Australasia, Simon Rooney.

* Chinese-Australian property developer Yuhu Group, according to The Australian, is allotting A$3 billion for the redevelopment of the sites in Sydney and the Gold Coast that its associate AWH Investment Group Pty. Ltd. acquired from Wanda Hotel Development Co. Ltd. under a recently completed A$1.13 billion agreement.

Australia

* Embattled retirement village operator Aveo Group Ltd. will face developer Fridcorp in June at Queensland's Court of Appeal as their court battle over a terminated property transaction worth over A$25 million continues, The Australian Financial Review reported. The property deal at the center of the hearing will be the 12-lot site at 60 Hudson St. in Brisbane's Albion suburb, which was intended for a A$400 million project that will provide more than 600 apartments. Fridman will appeal the A$8 million added cost that was awarded to the seller, Aveo unit FKP Commercial Development Pty Ltd., among other issues.

* The Parramatta City Council approved Dexus' plan to develop a A$500 million office tower at 140 George St. in Sydney's Parramatta suburb. The planned tower will stand 33 stories high and will span 45,700 square meters.

* Wingate Property's joint venture with private developer Perri Projects also secured approval from the city council for the proposed development of a A$150 million mixed-use building in Melbourne's central business district, the AFR reported. The 20-story development will feature 70 apartment units and will have roughly 3,000 square meters of commercial space in its podium level.

* Disparities in the allocation of responsibilities between city- and state-level government are hindering the respective councils of the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide from realizing plans to develop global economic centers, the AFR reported, citing the Property Council of Australia's "Creating Great Australian Cities" report.

The report, due for a May 22 release, claims that "governance fragmentation" has limited the city councils' control to their respective central business districts, while planning for the wider metropolitan regions was left to the state governments.

Hong Kong and China

* Singapore- and Hong Kong-listed Agile Group Holdings Ltd., along with certain subsidiaries, obtained a 48-month term loan facility from an unnamed bank and various other financial institutions. The facility comprises two tranches, with the first amounting to approximately HK$8.83 billion and having a HK$2.50 billion greenshoe option, while the second has an amount of US$200 million.

* Sean Qian, vice-president of Kr Space, was reported by the South China Morning Post as saying that the Chinese co-working space operator is aiming to be on the same level as WeWork Cos. within two to three years. Qian added that the company's recent decision to enter Hong Kong is part of its strategy to become an international co-working operator.

Southeast Asia

* Thai property company Singha Estate PCL is looking to invest in local hotels in a bid to capitalize on the tourism boom in its home country, which is considered to be Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, Reuters reported, citing Thiti Thongbenjamas, Singha's chief investment officer.

Thongbenjamas added that Singha, which earlier flagged plans to buy six hotels and resorts across four countries from Outrigger Hotels Hawaii, also intends to invest in the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali.

* Mochtar Riady, founder and chairman of Lippo Group, is looking to speed up the digital transformation of the property-to-banking conglomerate by tapping into blockchain technology, the Nikkei Asian Review of Tokyo reported.

At a Nikkei-hosted forum in Tokyo, Riady said the Indonesian conglomerate is considering the use of the technology for its e-commerce business, while an unnamed person close to the group disclosed that the company is also mulling investment in blockchain startups.

Japan

* New apartment sales in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures fell 14.6% year over year to 2,342 units in April, the first year-over-year drop in four months, The Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing Tokyo-based Real Estate Economic Institute Co. Ltd. The sales price declined 6.3% year over year to ¥55.48 million, the first such drop in three months.

* Nagoya-based hotel developer Resorttrust Inc. disclosed plans to expand into Thailand and other Southeast Asian destinations, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported.

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Rollen Catorce and Jaekwon Lim contributed to this report.

As of May 21, US$1 was equivalent to ¥111.14.