* Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. Ltd. is moving ahead with its plan to sell shareholdings in American hospitality company Red Lion Hotels Corp. Through its HNA RLH Investments LLC affiliate, the conglomerate is divesting up to 3,738,401 Red Lion common shares at a proposed maximum aggregate offering price of US$10.40 per share.
* Indonesian property developer PT Wijaya Karya Realty Tbk., or Wika Realty, is postponing plans to launch an IPO in May due to unfavorable market conditions, the Nikkei Asian Review of Tokyo reported, citing Anissa Seruni, press officer for Wika Realty.
The company, which also offers property management and construction services, was aiming to raise between 2.4 trillion rupiah and 3.1 trillion rupiah from the offering of approximately 12.5 billion shares set to be priced within the per-share range of 195 rupiah to 255 rupiah.
Australia
* Citi Research analysts, as cited by The Australian, said that aside from Scentre Group and Vicinity Centres, many other local real estate investment trusts will likely miss out on the benefits arising from the completion of Unibail-Rodamco SE's US$15.68 billion buyout of Westfield Corp. According to the analysts, investment gain from the takeover might flow to listed property companies with offshore exposure, such as Lendlease Corp. Ltd. and Goodman Group, instead of into local shopping center landlords because Westfield's assets are all located overseas.
Westfield's security holders will meet May 24 to vote on the proposed merger, which was approved by Unibail's shareholders May 17.
* Frasers Property Ltd.'s Australian development arm agreed to develop a 13,300-square-meter distribution center and head office for Reward Hospitality, The Australian Financial Review reported. The A$25 million center being built by Frasers Property Australia Pty. Ltd. will include 1,800 square meters of office, meeting and showroom space and will be leased for a seven-year term.
* Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. tapped Colliers International to aide with its ongoing divestment of major manufacturing sites in Adelaide and Perth that market sources expect to fetch between A$150 million and A$200 million, the AFR reported. The sale of the facility in the inner Adelaide suburb of Thebarton is expected to close by 2018-end, while the property in Perth's Kewdale suburb is being divested in pursuant of a sale-and-leaseback strategy.
* Melbourne-based developer Pace Development Group secured approval for its proposed A$120 million development of a townhouse and apartment project in Victoria's Sunshine North suburb, AFR reported. On a five-hectare site, Pace Development intends to build 234 three-story townhouses and a four-story apartment building featuring 32 units.
* Devine Ltd. Chairman David Robinson said in a statement to shareholders that in light of an undisclosed but "significant" amount of contractual and insurance claims in the company's construction business, a full legal process will be initiated if it does not arrive on a suitable commercial resolution to the issues during 2018.
* Macquarie Bank economist Justin Fabo was cited by Business Insider (Australia) as saying that the increase in the number of residential sales to foreign buyers in the country is more likely due to offshore visa grants to Chinese students continuing on its upwards trajectory. The Sydney-based investment bank noted that approvals for residential dwellings, other than houses, in the private sector rose 21.4% in March.
Hong Kong and China
* Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd.'s record HK$25.16 billion acquisition of a roughly 16,556-square-meter site in the Kai Tak area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, is prompting other local developers, such as Kerry Properties Ltd., K. Wah International Holdings Ltd. and Wheelock Properties Ltd., to hike the prices of their unsold residential units in the city by as much as 70%, the South China Morning Post reported.
* Overall rents in Hong Kong grew 1.1% month over month in April from 0.2%, The (Hong Kong) Standard reported, citing Jones Lang LaSalle data. Property consultants were also cited in the report as saying that the growth of office rents in the special administrative region during the month was the fastest in more than two years.
* The government of Xiamen, China, will build 2,000 rental properties in 2018, mostly around industrial areas in the city, Caijing (Beijing) reported. Tenants renting properties in the city will receive more support from the Personal Housing Provident Fund Loan and be entitled to local schooling and basic public health services. Property owners leasing out their apartments will also be entitled to a 1.5% discount on value added tax to simulate rental property supply in the market.
* Hangzhou in China also laid out a comprehensive plan on rental properties, setting a target to build 10,000 units in the year, The Paper reported. The properties will be targeted at foreign blue-collar workers in the city including cleaners, security guards and workers of the food and beverage industry.
Southeast Asia
* An 85/15 joint venture between Singapore-listed Hatten Land Ltd. and proptech startup FundPlaces Pte. Ltd. is planning to launch StayCay, Southeast Asia's first hospitality blockchain platform. StayCay will initially target over 3,400 hotel rooms and 5,000 retail outlets in Melaka, Malaysia, and eventually expand within the region, according to a release.
* Sotetsu Holdings Inc., a Yokohama-based transportation company diversifying into real estate development, will build a 17-story, 120-room hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, opening in 2021, Jutaku-Shimpo-Sha reported.
India
* DLF Ltd. is planning to develop nearly 10 million square feet of commercial real estate within the next five to seven years, according to Mint (New Delhi). The developer is also on the hunt for a partner for its planned development of roughly 2 million square feet of properties within the next three to four years, following its 89.00 billion-rupee sale of its 33.34% stake in its rental arm to Singaporean wealth fund GIC.
Japan
* STrust Co. Ltd., the homebuilder unit of Saibu Gas Co. Ltd., a gas utility company based in the Kyushu region, will launch its first commercial real estate development project, Tokyo's The Nikkei reported. The company will build a hot spring resort in Kitakyushu by 2020.
* Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund and state-owned asset manager Permodalan Nasional Bhd. are looking to secure a £1.5 billion loan to refinance debt and bankroll their joint venture's approximately £1.61 billion acquisition of the commercial assets being developed as part of the second phase of the Battersea Power Station project in London, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The project, expected to become Apple Inc.'s U.K. headquarters, is a joint development between Malaysian real estate developers SP Setia Bhd. and Sime Darby Property Bhd.
* Separately, Employees Provident Fund acquired the Galeria Katowicka mall in Katowice, Poland, for an undisclosed amount under a Savills Investment Management-structured deal. The Star (Malaysia), citing an unnamed British source, reported that the fund bought the asset from property investment manager Meyer Bergman for nearly £300 million.
* Chinese buyers' overseas property investments in the first quarter was US$5.6 billion, down 27% on the year and the lowest figure in three years, London's Financial Times reported. Andy Pyle, head of U.K. real estate at KPMG, said the latest numbers prove "undoubtedly" that Beijing's stricter measures to curb outbound capital are working, adding that the restrictions have affected Europe's commercial property market.
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Rollen Catorce, Emily Lai and Jaekwon Lim contributed to this report.
As of May 22, US$1 was equivalent to 68.05 Indian rupees and 14,115.00 rupiah.
