S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of Asia-Pacific real estate news stories and more published throughout the week.
Australian M&A
* Just one more hurdle to pass and Westfield Corp.'s US$15.68 billion sale to French company Unibail-Rodamco SE will be official. After about 97.55% of the total votes cast at a meeting approved the merger, Westfield now only awaits the seal of approval from an Australian court hearing, and all of its assets will be transferred to Unibail.
At the May 24 meeting, Westfield Chairman and founder Frank Lowy called the M&A deal the largest in Australia's history, while Co-CEO Steven Lowy said the combined business will have the "highest quality real estate portfolio in the western world."
* The Federal Court of Australia approved AccorHotels' A$1.18 billion acquisition of local hotel operator Mantra Group Ltd. The scheme of arrangement for the takeover will be implemented May 31, and Mantra's shares on the Australian bourse were suspended from trading May 23.
* GIC Pvt. Ltd. and Tasman Capital are reportedly buying National Lifestyle Villages, an Australian manufactured homes developer, for an undisclosed sum. Private equity firms Navis and Blackstone Group LP are said to have shareholdings in the target.
Big property deals
* Wanda Hotel Development Co. Ltd. completed May 18 the sale of its rights in two Australian projects for A$1.13 billion. An associate of Chinese investor Yuhu Group bought the properties, which it plans to invest about A$2.8 billion in.
The subsidiary of Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. agreed to the sale of the luxury projects in January, a move largely seen as part of the conglomerate's answer to Beijing's stricter rules on offshore investments.
* After closing last week with the NZ$635 million acquisition of an office portfolio in Auckland, Blackstone had a busy past few days of sales Down Under.
The private equity giant is said to be looking at a roughly A$700 million payout from the sale of a Sydney shopping center; A$184.6 million from the sale of an office asset in Adelaide; and nearly A$130 million from its divestment of a Brisbane office building.
In addition, Mirvac Group is reported to be exercising its first right to select a co-investor in Westpac Place in Sydney, an asset that Blackstone is exiting through the sale of its 50% stake worth A$850 million to Charter Hall Group.
* GIC and a Rockwood Capital LLC joint venture teamed up to buy a grade A office portfolio in Los Angeles for an undisclosed price. The Singaporean sovereign wealth fund is also co-developing an office building at the Playa Vista complex as part of the deal.
Developers diversifying
* Property developer Hatten Land Ltd. is set to become the force behind Southeast Asia's first hospitality blockchain platform. The Singaporean company partnered with FundPlaces Pte. Ltd. to launch StayCay, an 85/15 joint venture that will allow the former to offer digital utility tokens for guests at its hotels.
* Tahoe Group Co. Ltd., a real estate company based in Fujian, China, has earmarked up to 100 billion yuan for investments in the healthcare sector over the next five years. The industry is one of six that Tahoe has identified for future investments.
* Owing to a boom in Thailand's tourism industry, local diversified developer Singha Estate PCL is considering investments in the hotel sector at home and in Indonesia.
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Rollen Catorce contributed to this report.
As of May 24, US$1 was equivalent to 6.37 yuan and NZ$1.45.
