ING Real Estate plans second China fund
The world’s biggest property fund manager ING Real Estate plans a second China fund next year, worth about US$700 million, in response to growing enthusiasm for Asian property at a time when Western markets are suffering. With a global credit crunch depressing activity in European and US commercial property markets, ING Real Estate is pushing further into Asia. But the unit of Dutch financial services firm ING Groep NV is also looking to snap up and privatise battered real estate investment trusts (Reits) in mature markets.
“On the one hand you see part of the world slowing down, triggered by the credit crunch. And then you see another part of the world - China, Japan, and even Australia—where there are lots of opportunities,” ING Real Estate chairman and chief executive George Jautze told Reuters in an interview. Read more
Lippo sees top Jakarta property value triple by 2014
Indonesia’s Lippo Group, which runs hospitals and property firms, said it would spend up to US$10 billion on domestic real estate projects by 2014, and expects prime Jakarta property to double or triple in value by then.
The group, which has listed units in Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong, expects to benefit from strong economic growth and rising incomes in Indonesia and other parts of Asia, chief executive James Riady told Reuters in an interview. Read more
Malaysian tycoon enters S’pore luxury homes market
MALAYSIAN tycoon Francis Yeoh, who helms YTL Group, one of Malaysia’s largest listed companies, is intent on an aggressive expansion in Asia - starting in Singapore. The Republic is the target of the first part of his grand plan Read more
