Foreign Snapshots
Posted on | April 2, 2007
By THE EDGE SINGAPORE
Big guns compete for ANA hotels
There has been keen foreign interest in All Nippon Airways’ Japanese hotel portfolio, which has attracted 30 bids. ANA is selling 13 hotels and is expected to make US$2.1 billion (RM7.14 billion), more than double what analysts forecast three months ago when the airline put the hotels up for sale.
ANA, advised by Jones Lang LaSalle and Nomura Securities, has shortlisted 10 bidders in what will be one of the largest property deals in Japan. They reportedly include Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lone Star, George Soros, Starwood Capital and Rreef, and Deutsche Bank’s real estate opportunity fund. Most of the hotels are in smaller cities such as Hiroshima.
London home squeeze ramps up prices
Buyers of London houses in March have set the hottest pace in three years and pushed up prices. Leading the charge were wealthy foreigners and bankers, according to Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property website.
Average asking prices in the capital rose 1.8% to £366,302 (RM2.45 million), up 22% from last March. The average time to sell was 65 days, the shortest period since July 2004. A shortage of properties drove up prices further even after the Bank of England raised the benchmark interest rate three times since last August. Movie star Hugh Grant’s Kensington-Chelsea district led London gains, rising 83% from a year earlier to average £1,208,981. The next biggest mover was Westminster, up 50%, followed by Hammersmith and Fulham at 29%.
St Regis to open in Tibet
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has signed an agreement with Lhasa Yungao International Hotel Co to manage St Regis Resort in Lhasa, Tibet. The 169-room resort will open in January 2010. Tourist arrivals to Lhasa have increased 15% since the completion last year of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Tibet is expecting three million tourists this year, 28% more than last year.
Accor scores Taipei airport hotel
Accor has signed a contract to manage Novotel Taoyuan International Airport Taipei, its fifth airport hotel in Asia. The hotel is being built by CAL Hotel and will open in late 2009.
Accor’s other management contracts are at airport Novotels in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Guangzhou and Hyderabad. The Taipei hotel will join Accor’s network of 65 airport hotels in 20 countries.
AMP expands Singapore operation
Australian fund manager AMP Capital Investors is doubling its investment team in Singapore to 20 people by year-end and also aims to sell funds in South Korea.
AMP Capital, which opened its Singapore office this month, manages A$105 billion (RM287.67 billion) in assets worldwide. The Singapore team will manage a new A$500 million infrastructure fund that will invest in ports and power assets in Asia, including China and India.
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