Japanese retail development
begins to show signs of life

Royal Ahold to quit Southeast Asia

Asia-Pacific’s largest mall set
to open in KL this October

First Courts store opens in Phuket

100 Lotus Supercenters in
China by 2006: CP Group

Revamps, renovations,
repositioning — S’pore malls go
all out to lure shoppers

HK’s CRE to slow expansion
plans in China

Schroder buys first retail
property in HK

Ikea’s largest Asian store
opens in Shanghai

Taipei 101 Mall set to open later
this year

Malls in S’pore fight back SARS
scare

OG to leave Great World City in
S’pore when its lease expires

More outlets outside Bangkok:
SF Cinema

Thailand’s Seacon Square earmarks Bt107 million for upgrades

 

SCHRODER BUYS FIRST RETAIL PROPERTY IN HK

Hong Kong’s real estate, the most expensive in Asia (ex-Japan), still attracts interest among investors despite the sluggish economy

Investment fund Schroder Asian Properties’ acquisition of a prime retail property at No. 8 Russell Street, opposite Times Square, marks its first investment in Hong Kong retail real estate.

The fund spent HK$367 million (US$47.7 million) for the 22,644 sqf of shops in the lower four floors of the building in Causeway Bay, which translates to an average of HK$16,207 psf. The acquisition was financed by a combination of debt and equity in a highly leveraged structured financing. The fund estimated the purchase provided an initial yield of 7.6%.

The shops are fully leased, with anchor tenants on the ground floor and first floor. The top two floors are leased to a Japanese restaurant. The purchase of the shops gave the fund control of the entire building. In October 2001, the fund paid HK$300 million for the upper floors of the building.

Analysts said the deal reflected continued interest of foreign investors
in quality properties in Hong Kong despite the sluggish economy and
dampening effect of SARS. The latest investment brought the value of
property owned by Schroder Asian Properties in Hong Kong to about
HK$1 billion.

The Asian private equity fund, based in Australia, has investments in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore spread across the office, retail, residential, hotel, healthcare and serviced-apartment sectors.

Meanwhile, retail sales in Hong Kong fell 6% in value in March compared to a year ago, as the slumping economy and high unemployment forced people to cut back on spending in stores.

After factoring in deflation, retail sales fell 3.7% by volume from March last year. The value of sales was HK$14.2 billion compared with a revised HK$12.7 billion in February. Hong Kong’s retail sales have declined in all but four of the past 24 months.

Footwear and clothing accessories led the decline, dropping 21.1% in volume, followed by fuel, which fell 16.8%. Electrical goods and camera equipment sales rose 14.6%.
The outbreak of SARS might have contributed to the decline in March, although the full impact will not be clear until April’s figures are revealed.

The government’s retail sales figures do not take into account personal spending on services.