* The Beijing-based investor leading the C.H.M.T. Peaceful Development Asia Property Ltd. consortium that agreed to buy a 75% stake in The Center property in Hong Kong from CK Asset Holdings Ltd. pulled out of the record HK$40.2 billion agreement, Reuters reported, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
In light of the reported development, the 55% stake in the consortium that China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group Properties was supposed to hold will now be shared by Hong Kong-based investors including Kingston Financial Group Ltd. CEO Chu Yuet Wah and Shimao Property Holdings Ltd. Chairman Hui Wing Mau, according to one of the unnamed sources.
* Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd.'s underlying attributable profit in the six months ended Dec. 31, 2017, climbed 36.7% to HK$19.97 billion from the HK$14.61 billion recorded a year ago. At a press conference, the Hong Kong company said it is looking to boost its rental revenue by growing its investment property portfolio in mainland China.
* Prestige Estates Projects Ltd. CEO Venkat Narayana confirmed with the Press Trust of India that GIC is taking a 26.00 billion-Indian-rupee stake in the company's office development business. The sale of an up to 40% interest in Exora Business Park is expected to close within the next two to three months.
Hong Kong and China
* New World Development Co. Ltd. saw its profit surge 126.5% year over year in the six months to Dec. 31, 2017, to HK$12.63 billion. EPS for the interim period amounted to HK$1.15, up 147.8% year over year from 46 Hong Kong cents per share.
* A C&D International Investment Group Ltd. subsidiary was confirmed by the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Land Resources as the winner of the auction for a roughly 22,256-square-meter land plot in Suzhou, China, after it placed a nearly 458.4 million-yuan bid.
* Empire Group Holdings has earmarked HK$6 billion for the redevelopment of The Mariners' Club building in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported. The group will transform the property into a 42-story hotel and club for mariners, with completion expected by 2022.
* Yinyi Real Estate Co. Ltd. is planning to offer medium-term notes at an aggregate principal amount of 2.0 billion yuan, Reuters reported.
* Hong Kong-listed developers Modern Land (China) Co. Ltd., Agile Group Holdings Ltd. and Yuzhou Properties Co. Ltd. are all looking to raise funds for debt repayment. Modern Land intends to do so by offering U.S.-dollar-denominated green senior notes to international investors, while Agile Group and Yuzhou Properties are respectively planning to issue perpetual capital securities and senior notes, according to separate filings.
* The city of Sanya in the Chinese province of Hainan introduced new regulation wherein new properties in the city should have price tags that are lower than the comparable prices from February 2017, Xinhua News Agency reported. The reference prices are to be kept constant for a year.
Singapore
* ESR-REIT is seeking about S$141.9 million from its nonrenounceable preferential offering of 262.8 million new investment units priced at 54 Singapore cents apiece.
* The owners of the Windy Heights estate are selling the 192-unit residential property en bloc to net S$806.2 million. The (Singapore) Business Times reported, citing marketing agent Knight Frank Singapore, that the 23,291-square-meter site with a 2.1 gross plot ratio can be redeveloped to accommodate 581 apartments.
* Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority launched the public tender for a 5,722.5-square-meter residential site at Cuscaden Road that can yield 170 housing units. Public bidding for the site, which has a maximum gross floor area of 16,023 square meters, will close April 26, the authority noted.
* Similarly, JTC Corp. opened the auction for the tender to a 7,831.6-square-meter development site at Plot 21 in Tuas South Link 3, with bidding set to close April 24. The site has a 20-year lease period and a 1.4 permissible gross plot ratio.
Malaysia
* A partnership between an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corp. and a subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd. is planning to deliver by 2021 the first Park Hyatt-branded hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The planned Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur will occupy the top 17 floors of the 118-floor Merdeka PNB 118 tower, which is designed to become the tallest skyscraper in Southeast Asia upon its 2020 completion.
Japan
* NTT Urban Development Corp. will launch a shared-workspace brand in April, Jutaku-Shimpo-Sha reported. The first two shared workspaces will be in Tokyo's Otemachi and Akihabara.
* According to housing brokerage firm At Home Co. Ltd., the number of residential rental properties that changed hands in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures fell 0.8% year over year to 234,444 in full year 2017, for a second consecutive yearly decline, Jutaku-Shimpo-Sha reported.
Australia
* IPO-hopeful Redcape Hotel Group Pty. Ltd. is believed to be interested in discussions to buy Coles' 89-pub Spirit Hotels portfolio, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk reported. The portfolio, which is not for sale, is estimated to be valued at between A$300 million and A$400 million.
* A private investor group put up for sale the 150-room Felix by 8Hotels Sydney Airport in the Sydney suburb of Mascot, with price expectations of at least A$70 million. According to the AFR, the proposed sale comes a month after the launch of the hotel.
* The 13 owners of a 1,393-square-meter office block in Sydney's Chatswood residential district are collectively selling the property at 701 Pacific Highway with a A$60 million price tag, the AFR reported. The site could be redeveloped into a mixed-use project with a gross floor area of 8,358 square meters.
Other real estate news
* Thai property company Singha Estate Public Co. Ltd. could add 859 rooms to its portfolio once its planned US$250 million acquisition of six hotels from Outrigger Hotels Hawaii is completed. Reuters reported that the property arm of beer maker Boon Rawd Brewery agreed to buy hotels in the resort islands of Phuket and Samui in Thailand, and in Mauritius, the Maldives and Fiji.
* WeWork Cos. guaranteed a leasing deal between Oxley Holdings Ltd.'s Oxley Docklands Quay One Ltd. and Dublin Landings Tenant Ltd. As part of the deal, Dublin Landings will lease for 20 years Oxley Docklands' entire office building at No. 2, Dublin Landings, North Wall Quay in Ireland. Dublin Landings will be paying about €4.8 million in annual rent for the first five years of its stay at the property, according to a filing.
Cam Nones, Emily Lai and Jaekwon Lim contributed to this report.
As of Feb. 27, US$1 was equivalent to 6.32 yuan, 65.14 Indian rupees and S$1.32.