Featured in this Asia Pacific Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 1 April 2005
HVS Singapore Office Has Moved
GIC to Buy Stake in UK Mall
Tokyo Property Sector on Road to Recovery
Ascott Looks to Expand Global Portfolio
Sales of Queensland Hotels Are Continuing to Track at Record Levels
HVS International Hosts Conferences in India and China
Absolute Share Price Performance, as at April 1 2005


HVS Singapore Office Has Moved Return to Headlines

Dear industry colleagues, with effect from Wednesday, 30 March 2005, HVS International Singapore Office has moved to a new location. Our new address is as stated below.

HVS International Singapore Office
79 Anson Road
#11-05
Singapore 079906
Telephone: +65 6293 4415
Facsimile: +65 6293 5426

Our telephone and facsimile numbers remain the same. Please update your address books and do stay in touch. Thank you.


GIC to Buy Stake in UK Mall Return to Headlines

In its continuing effort to increase its global portfolio, the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (GIC) confirmed this week that it was buying part of Britain's Bluewater Shopping for about US$595 million. Following its acquisition of 73 hotels in the UK, GIC now looks to acquire one of Britain's biggest shopping centres, with an estimated 155,000 square metres of retail space. In its third purchase this month, GIC entered into a join-venture with Prudential, which owns 35% of Bluewater. Prudential Property Investment Managers (PruPIM), which has a portfolio that includes more than US$5 billion worth of shopping centres, almost US$3.7 billion of high street retail outlets and more than US$1.8 billion of retail warehousing, will look after the interest of both Prudential and GIC Real Estate and manage the property.


Tokyo Property Sector on Road to Recovery Return to Headlines

After a 14-year-long decline, commercial real estate prices in Tokyo's five main wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) have risen by 0.5 per cent on average in 2004. Average residential land values in the same regions have risen by 1.4 per cent in 2004 as well. The world's second largest economy has had four recessions since land and other asset prices began spiraling downwards at the end of the 1980s. Signs of the ending of land price delegation may help bolster growth in Japan as property developers gain more confidence about the future and increase consumption. A recovery in property prices would probably help Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and other lenders that have accepted real estate as collateral for loans. Economists have noted that falling land prices, financial system distress and corporate sector restructuring are all related and that rising land prices will augur well with a healthy financial system.


Ascott Looks to Expand Global Portfolio Return to Headlines

Asia's largest operator of serviced apartments, Ascott Group Ltd, expects to increase the number of properties it manages by 81 per cent to 25,000 units over the next five years, by buying assets in several countries including China. The operator also plans to sell its more "mature assets" and invest in higher-yielding properties. The Singapore-based company, which operates serviced apartments from Barcelona to Beijing, is banking on multinational corporations housing their employees in its apartments for short term projects. In its annual report, it said that it wants to expand its customer base to include most of the world's 1,000 biggest multinational companies as repeat customers in cities where Ascott is present.


Sales of Queensland Hotels Are Continuing to Track at Record Levels Return to Headlines

Just hitting the sales block is Singapore tycoon Ong Beng Seng's last major Australian investment, the Concorde hotel and tavern complex at Surfers Paradise. The Concorde, previously known as the Chevron Hotel, was bought by Ong Beng Seng's Hotel Properties Ltd in 1995 for $30 million as part of a wider buying spree on the Gold Coast. However, HPL failed to pursue its grandiose development plans and sold its larger Chevron site and a beachfront land parcel to its former joint-venture partner, Raptis Group, in two separate deals. Raptis subsequently developed its Platinum tower on the beachfront site and its just-completed $450 million Chevron Renaissance mixed-use complex on the larger Surfers Paradise holding. HPL's 199-room Concorde hotel and adjoining Pink Elephant tavern is being marketed by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' executive vice-president, Mike Batchelor, with a May 4 deadline for expressions of interests. A development approval has been lodged with council for a 43-level tower on the site which fronts the Nerang River. The offering comes just days after Raptis settled its $106 million acquisition of the former ANA hotel in Surfers Paradise, which has since been rebranded the Holiday Inn. The next big-ticket offerings expected to change hands include Daikyo's 321-room Cairns International and its boutique Green Island resort. Hotels and resorts valued at a total of $1.6 billion changed hands throughout Australia last year, of which agreements valued at an unprecedented $776 million involved Queensland properties.


HVS International Hosts Conferences in India and China Return to Headlines
Hospitality Conferences: HVS International is proud to host two major hotel investment conferences in India and China.
 
Hotel Investment Conference - South Asia
First up, HVS International will host the first Hotel Investment Conference - South Asia (HICSA) from 6 to 7 April 2005 at the Hilton Towers hotel in Mumbai, India. HICSA aims to provide an opportunity for hotel owners, investors, operators, bankers and industry specialists to come together to share their best practices, new ideas, latest market trends. For more information, please contact: Lokesh Sabharwal at (+91 11) 24101005 or via email: [email protected]. For more information, please visit HICSA website www.hvs.com/HICSA/.

China Hotel Investment Summit
Without a doubt, China is rising in stature as the world's economic superpower with unprecedented growth in all sectors within its economy. It is therefore HVS International's pleasure to present the first ever China Hotel Investment Summit (CHIS) which will be held on 28 and 29 April 2005 in the Westin Shanghai. CHIS was conceptualised to provide an opportunity for hotel owners, developers, investors, operators, government agencies and industry specialists to come together to share their best practices, new ideas and the latest market trends. For hotel developers and investors in China, CHIS will be a 'One-Stop' marketplace to tap into new development concepts, a venue to meet major regional and international hotel operators, prospective equity partners, financing partners and industry experts and learn of new investment opportunities. For more information, please contact: David Ling at +65 6293-4415 (Ext. 11) or via email: [email protected] or Nevius Glussi at +65 6293-4415 (Ext. 12) or via email: [email protected]. For more information, please visit CHIS website www.hvs.com/CHIS/.

Absolute Share Price Performance, as at April 1 2005
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