Property

Hong Kong-on-Thames lies in not-too-distant future

13 Apr 2021

Real estate tycoons from the former British colony are rushing to build new homes in London. They appeal to Hong Kong residents taking up UK visas, and offer a better return on investment than at home. It’s a bold bet on the capital’s pandemic-afflicted property market.

Capital Calls: U.S. CEO pay

12 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The median big-company boss is ending up with $13.7 mln for the 2020 pandemic year, a payout that's heading for a record.

Capital Calls: Cellebrite good times

8 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The Israeli cracker of mobile-phone encryption is going public via a SPAC at a $2.4 billion valuation.

Viewsroom: Asia’s E-car mania, U.S. infrastructure

8 Apr 2021

Huawei makes telecoms, Haier dishwashers, Xiaomi phones, Evergrande condos. Now, these Chinese companies all want to make battery-powered vehicles too. And while on the subject of building, U.S. President Joe Biden is going big. Maybe too big for the bean counters in the Senate.

Capital Calls: Elon Musk, LeBron James

1 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Endeavor, Ari Emanuel’s entertainment group, is hoping the Tesla boss’s stardust will help a second attempt at an IPO; the basketball star’s stake in the Red Sox is a foil to Steve Cohen’s Mets deal.

China Evergrande spinoff is draped in red flags

30 Mar 2021

The indebted property conglomerate plans to list its online market for flats and cars, valued at $23 bln. Unlike rival Ke, the unit has grown by taking stakes in customers, mostly real estate agencies, and giving them equity. Brash financial engineering is unlikely to pay off.

Singapore dynasty falls into China property trap

29 Mar 2021

A spat between the Kwek family’s City Developments and its struggling mainland partner has gone public. The souring of a $655 mln deal hailed just 11 months ago as a tie-up between old friends serves as a warning of the pitfalls in distressed Chinese property.

WeWork finally dons office-appropriate attire

26 Mar 2021

Merging with a SPAC will give the shared-office lessor $1.3 bln in fresh cash and a $9 bln valuation far below the price tag it flaunted in 2019. The resilience of its revenue is encouraging. But whiffs of the old WeWork remain, like a reliance on aggressive growth assumptions.

New Zealand’s diluted punch bowl may tempt others

26 Mar 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is combatting a hot housing market by stopping property investors from deducting mortgage interest. This mitigates side effects of low rates and allows the central bank to defer policy tightening. The approach might appeal to governments elsewhere.

Office landlords can live with homeworking shock

19 Mar 2021

Firms like HSBC hope working from home will let them cut costs. Goldman Sachs thinks it is a fad. Yet even if employees spend more time at home, their needs and social distancing rules will limit how much space can be freed up. The slump in office property stocks looks overdone.

China’s Zillow builds hope for hard-up developers

17 Mar 2021

Ke’s adjusted net profit tripled in 2020 despite Beijing’s hawkish tone on frothy prices. The $77 bln Tencent-backed home broker is worth more than its U.S. peer and Australia’s REA combined. Its success is tempting property giants to get stuck in but the model is hard to copy.

Jardine restructuring could tempt an activist

16 Mar 2021

The Hong Kong conglomerate’s plan to end a double holding structure more than halved its discount to net asset value to 10%, per Breakingviews calculations. While that will ward off some pushy investors, others may smell a chance for more change. And there is plenty to clean up.

Capital Calls: TV’s royal boost, Shared offices

9 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is a boon for ViacomCBS’s streaming ambitions; IWG’s revamp depends on a workplace revolution.

Chinese developer undercuts Wall Street’s ESG push

9 Mar 2021

Even after Seazen founder Wang Zhenhua’s imprisonment for child molestation, BlackRock, Pimco and others own the company’s bonds. Although his son now chairs the $15 bln group, Wang still controls it. Such examples make socially conscious investor messages sound like lip service.

Capital Calls: Shutterfly’s touch-up

5 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: A SPAC may give photo-sharing firm Shutterfly a shiny new frame.

Capital Calls: Sarkozy’s trial

1 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: the former French prime minister’s conviction for trying to bribe a judge creates a new dilemma for the companies on whose board he sits, including hotel chain Accor.

Capital Calls: Bubble alert

16 Feb 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Bitcoin burst through $50,000, and global fund managers are maximum bullish on the pace of the recovery from the pandemic.

Chinese property developers blur red lines

9 Feb 2021

From Country Garden to Vanke, many are breaching at least one of Beijing's three leverage rules – known as red lines – designed to curb wild growth, one study found. Craftiness with JVs, shell companies and more obscure debt realities. The crackdown will require extra vigilance.

China property credit crisis drags in Ping An Life

4 Feb 2021

China Fortune Land Development's $814 mln of overdue loans have local officials warning its collapse could create systemic risk. Over 200 financial institutions are involved. Beijing might let CFLD serve as a warning, unless the life insurance giant steps in to save its stake.

Corona Capital: UK’s quarantine, U.S. prisons

27 Jan 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Britain’s new quarantine rules are weak, but will still hurt the travel industry; and for-profit prisons lose business to the U.S. government.