City Developments Delivers Earnings Surge and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

In today’s roundup of regional news headlines, Singapore giant City Developments Ltd rides the hospitality recovery to an upbeat earnings report, and Chinese data centre operator GDS contemplates a stake sale after a reported data breach.

CDL’s H2 Profit Rises 42% on Disposal Gains, Higher Revenue

City Developments Ltd on Thursday posted a net profit of S$165.8 million (now $123.5 million) for the six months ended December 2022, up 42 percent year-on-year.

The previous comparative year included lower restated income for 2021 than reported earlier, as the group reclassified its assets held for sale, along with their directly associated liabilities. This was after CDL’s proposed REIT listing of its two UK commercial properties fell through. Read more>>

GDS Weighs $400M Stake Sale in International Data Centres

Data centre operator GDS Holdings is considering selling a minority stake in its international business for between $300 million and $400 million to a strategic partner, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Shanghai-based digital infrastructure company is working with an advisor and is weighing selling a 30 to 40 percent stake in the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Investment firms and sovereign wealth funds have expressed interest in the international portfolio, the people said. Read more>>

GDS, STTGDC Data Centres Hacked

Unknown hackers have reportedly managed to steal login information for data centres used by some of the world’s biggest tech and banking companies, researchers have claimed.

Cybersecurity researchers from Resecurity recently reported how a threat actor breached GDS Holdings and ST Telemedia Global Data Centers — two of the largest third-party data centre companies in Asia. Between them, these providers cover some of the world’s biggest brands, including Apple, Amazon, BMW and Goldman Sachs. Read more>>

Boustead Singapore Ups Offer to S$0.95 Per Share to Privatise Property Unit

Boustead Singapore will raise the offer price to take its SGX-listed real estate subsidiary Boustead Projects private to S$0.95 per share from S$0.90 previously, with the revised offer price final, Boustead Singapore said Wednesday in a bourse filing.

The announcement comes after an investor advocacy group called on the engineering services provider to raise its offer price, citing the discount to asset value as “simply too large to ignore”. Read more>>

Li Ka-shing, Lee Shau-kee, Henry Cheng Keep Top 3 Spots in Forbes HK Rich List

Billionaires Li Ka-shing, Lee Shau-kee, and Henry Cheng are once again the three wealthiest people in Hong Kong, according to Forbes.

In the Forbes Hong Kong Richest list published Wednesday that revealed the city’s top 50 billionaires, 20 of them made their fortunes in property, six in the manufacturing sector and four in logistics. The 50 tycoons now have a combined wealth of $324 billion, down $4 billion from last year. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s Penthouses Face China’s ‘Common Prosperity’

As some Hong Kong homeowners are finding out, you can’t charge for something that is given away for free.

Those who bought luxury apartments at Kai Tak, once the city’s only commercial airport that’s now being redeveloped into a prime business district, are in dismay. In late January, Hong Kong’s government released a plan to build more than 10,000 temporary public housing units on an idle plot that had been reserved for commercial use and is surrounded by upscale residential buildings. Read more>>

Families in China on Path to Buying Homes Again: Survey

The number of Chinese households that decided against buying a home soared in the fourth quarter of 2022, a private survey showed. This came as lockdowns and a surge in COVID infections sapped buyer sentiment, and as property foreclosures soared amid a slowing economy.

But the survey, conducted by a think tank under Ant Group and the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, showed that more households were considering buying a home or investing in other assets in the coming three months. Read more>>

Vietnam Property Debt Crisis Deepens as Key Developer Delays Bond Payment

Vietnam’s property debt crisis has intensified after the country’s second-largest developer joined the ranks of peers failing to repay a bond on time and seeking debt extensions.

No Va Land Investment Group, better known as Novaland, said earlier this week that it would delay repayment of a VND 1 trillion ($42 million) note originally due on 12 February. It asked holders for an extension, or to convert the principal into its real estate products. The developer said it was seeking to work out a way within two months for it to pay off the debt. Read more>>

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