Singapore-Listed US REIT Adds $143M for Acquisitions and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore’s asset hungry investors lead today’s digest of real estate news from around the region, as a REIT set up to invest in US real estate assets completes $143 million in equity fund raising to fuel its acquisitions.

The collapse of WeWork’s IPO plans continue to prove newsworthy, with reports from the UK that a planned acquisition by mainland investor Du Shuanghua’s Bright Ruby Resources may have sunk alongside the co-working giants listing dreams.

And in the latest tale of US projects by mainland investors, China Vanke has sold off its stake in a controversial Manhattan development while a joint venture between NYC developer and Shanghai’s municipal investment fund tops out a Central Park project in the midst of New York’s luxury glut. All these stories and more await you below.

Manulife US REIT Raises $143M From Unit Sale

Manulife US Reit’s private placement and preferential offering has netted gross proceeds of about US$142.7 million (S$196.8 million) after both priced in at the top end of their issue price range, its manager said on Friday (20 Sept).

The pure-play US office Reit had planned to raise US$142.1 million from the equity fundraising for its latest acquisition. Read more>>

WeWork IPO Fiasco May Have Scuppered £850M London Acquisition

Talks have stalled on the sale of WeWork Waterloo, which the company describes as the largest co-working facility in the world, according to other people with knowledge of the negotiations.

Singapore-based commodity trader Bright Ruby Resources Pte Ltd had agreed last month to buy it and an adjoining property leased to Royal Dutch Shell plc for about £850 million. It’s not clear what impact WeWork’s roller-coaster IPO has had on Bright Ruby’s appetite for the deal, the people said. Read more>>

China Vanke Sells Off Controversial NYC Acquisition

The saga of Rivington House continues this week with news of its sale. Indeed, three years after Slate Property Group, China Vanke Co., and Adam America Real Estate together purchased the property, the ownership team is cashing out.

After acquiring the former nursing home for $116 million in 2016, the partners have parted with the Manhattan asset for $159.6 million, according to local news reports, The identity of the buyer is said to be shielded by a network of shell companies. Read more>>

Shanghai Govt-Backed Central Park Tower Tops Out in Manhattan

Extell Development Company’s Central Park Tower on West 57th Street’s “Billionaires’ Row” has topped out. At 1,550 feet in height, the condominium project reportedly will be the tallest residential building in the world.

Extell is co-developing Central Park Tower with SMI USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Shanghai Municipal Investment. Lendlease served as construction manager for Central Park Tower. Read more>>

Sun Hung Kai Sells Out Kowloon Homes at Discounts Up to 25%

Homebuyers took advantage of steep discounts and snapped up 351 of the 352 flats Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong Kong’s biggest developer, had on sale at its The Cullinan West III project on Thursday. Developers have been rushing to offload flats before the introduction of a vacancy tax, now expected as soon as January.

The developer priced the latest batch of flats at the project at an average of HK$23,172 per square foot, up to 25 per cent below the prevailing market rate in the area. The development sits atop the Nam Cheong MTR Station, making it more attractive to buyers who have become more selective in their purchases, agents said. It is also near the protest-hit district of Sham Shui Po. Read more>>

Airbnb Plans 2020 IPO

Uber and Lyft are each trading well below their IPO prices. Slack’s stock took a beating after its first earnings report as a public company earlier this month. And WeWork is struggling just to make it across the IPO finish line.

And yet Airbnb, one of the most highly valued tech startups around, wants the world to know it still intends to go public despite all the red flags from its peers — just not this year. Read more>>

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