The Ascott Group has secured its second and third properties in Chennai and Bangalore in India. The acquisitions are part of the master development agreement signed with The Rattha Group in August.Under the agreement, the partners will acquire and develop seven serviced residences in India by 2010. Ascott will take a 40 percent equity stake in the two new properties with the remaining majority stake...
Overseas Property
China's luxury hotel market is growing - thanks to increasing affluence in the country and an influx of high-end corporate travellers. And one company that is tapping into this market is Raffles Hotels and Resorts. Raffles recently launched its flagship property in China and is already planning for more such hotels. Raffles Hotels and Resorts has just refurbished a historic hotel in Beijing, turning it...
CapitaLand is seeing overwhelming response for the IPO of its CapitaRetail China Trust.The institutional tranche is 196 times subscribed.This is one of the highest subscription rates ever for a Singapore share sale. The units are being offered at S$1.13 each, at the top end of its indicative range. Some 29 million units have been set aside for retail investors. The public offer opens on...
CapitaLand China says it has bought the first prime commercial site in Chengdu City in China's Sichuan Province for S$174 million.The developer plans to build an integrated development on the site and name it Raffles City Chengdu. The complex will have an office tower with 78,000 square metres of Grade A office space. There will also be a retail mall spanning 83,000 square metres, and either a five-star...
A consortium led by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates bid to buy Canada's Four Seasons luxury hotels for US$3.7 billion, the company said on Monday. The offer of US$82 per share to take the company private is 28.4 percent higher than Four Seasons' closing price in New York on Friday, and about 33.1 percent higher than its average price over the past six...
Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island off Dubai, is bracing for the arrival of its first residents, even as questions remain about the environmental impact of the mega-projects under way in the Gulf city state."These projects are a positive thing for the country" since they have propelled Dubai to world fame, said environmentalist Ibrahim al-Zu'bi. But "they are introducing more people, so it's more pressure...
As a sign of the growing business ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore, a S$150 million Singapore Tower is being built in Dubai. The project was unveiled by AKAR Properties on Friday. The UAE property developer is targeting the high-end office building not just at Singapore companies in the Middle-East, but also at other Asian businesses. When completed in 2008, the Singapore Tower...
CapitaLand has received approval to list its CapitaRetail China Trust on the main board of the Singapore Exchange.The private trust set up by CapitaLand will be the first China retail Real Estate Investment Trust in Singapore.CapitaRetail China Trust has an initial portfolio of seven retail malls located in five cities across China. The portfolio is valued at S$690 million and has a total gross rentable...
Thailand's booming property market is cooling off this year, with analysts expecting sales to remain flat due to rising interest rates and a general slowdown in the economy. Despite strong demand for downtown condos in Bangkok and resort properties, the overall market in Thailand slumped by 4.5 percent in the seven months to July, according to Kasikorn Research Center. Several analysts said last...