(PARIS) Accor SA, the world’s second-largest hotel company, said first-half profit more than doubled on the sale of properties and higher revenue in Europe at the Sofitel luxury chain. The Paris-based owner of Novotel and Ibis hotels said net income climbed to 596 million euros (S$1.2billion), or 2.66 euros a share, from 241 million euros, […]
Archive | August 30, 2007
Wing Tai triples Q4 net
WING Tai Holdings yesterday posted fourth-quarter group net profit of $243.2 million, more than triple the $75.4 million for the previous corresponding period. The results brought the group’s net earnings for the full year to June 30, 2007 to $381.8 million – a record for the property and retail group – and almost three times […]
Alexandra condo site up for tender
HDB also invites bids for sale of commercial plot at Toa Payoh Lorong 6 THE Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday asked for tenders for a 99-year leasehold residential plot at Alexandra Road, close to the Redhill MRT station and opposite the Metropolitan, after receiving a minimum bid price that triggered the launch from the Reserve List. […]
Kingdom Hotel to raise US$100m for expansion in Asia
(DUBAI) Kingdom Hotel Investments, the lodging chain backed by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plans to raise US$100 million to help bolster its presence in Asia. The cash will be used to buy hotels and refinance existing properties in Asia, Sarmad Zok, chief executive officer of the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based company, told reporters on […]
Abu Dhabi to pump 7b dirham into home, business, hotel project
(DUBAI) The Abu Dhabi Municipality will develop a residential, business and hotel complex, in partnership with private investors, that will include building 88 towers at a cost of seven billion dirham (S $2.9 billion). The Emerald Gateway project will be located between downtown Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi International Airport on a 3.5-kilometre stretch on […]
Ascott to buy Wilkie Road serviced apts for $79m
Property to take on Citadines brand, will open in 2009 THE Ascott Group has agreed to buy a 99-year leasehold serviced residence in town for $79.3 million, the company announced yesterday. The property, located at Wilkie Road, is part of lifestyle complex Wilkie Edge, which is under construction. Wilkie Edge is a mixed development consisting […]
California househunters sit on fence despite price dive
Fear of prices falling further is keeping them out of the residential market (LOS ANGELES) For some prospective home buyers in Southern California, the effect of the US mortgage crisis has been to keep them on the sidelines of the home market, wary of stepping in for fear prices will fall further. Sheila Hill, 35, […]
Philippines’ Ayala Land to raise capital, issue preferred shares
Move will allow more foreigners to buy into the firm (MANILA) Ayala Land Inc, the Philippines’ top property developer, said yesterday that its stockholders approved a plan to raise capital and issue 1.5 billion pesos (S$49 million) worth of preferred shares. The company raised its authorised capital by 7.5 per cent to 21.5 billion pesos […]
Property firms record good H1 gains, outlook bright
Progressive booking of profits from projects sold will underpin results ALL the big listed property groups have reported substantial gains in net earnings for the period ended June 30, 2007. And the earnings outlook for the second half is positive, as developers continue to progressively recognise profits from Singapore residential projects already sold based on […]
Peninsula luxury chain to open its first hotel in Japan
Tokyo property will be Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels’ eighth Peninsula (TOKYO) Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Ltd will open the Peninsula Tokyo on Sept 1, becoming the latest international luxury chain to seek to benefit from increasing visitor numbers to Japan’s capital. The hotel, with nightly rates start at 69,300 yen (S$920) and running to almost […]
Wing Tai chief cautiously upbeat on property prices
WING Tai Holdings’ head honchos yesterday said the US sub-prime woes have slowed property transactions across the whole market here but believe that property prices are still on a growth path ‘if the sub-prime (crisis) stabilises within a reasonable period’. Wing Tai chairman Cheng Wai Keung said: ‘Yes, temporarily, it has affected some of the […]
Sub-prime culprit: irrational exuberance
(WASHINGTON) We are now in the ‘blame phase’ of the economic cycle. As the US housing slump deepens and financial markets swing erratically, Americans have embarked on the usual search for culprits. Who got us into this mess? Our investigations will doubtlessly reveal, as they already have, much wishful thinking and miscalculation. They will also […]
US developer ProLogis to invest 450b yen in Japan
(TOKYO) US-based industrial property developer Pro- Logis will invest 450 billion yen (S$6 billion) in Japan to bring its total Japanese investment to 900 billion yen by end-2009, its Japan chief said on yesterday. The company, which started to invest in Japan in 2001, has already invested 450 billion yen of assets including those currently […]
US sub-prime crisis may worsen: Nobel laureate
(KUALA LUMPUR) The US sub-prime mortgage crisis will probably ‘get worse’ as banks tighten lending rules and borrowing rates increase, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said. The sub-prime fallout has roiled global markets as investors dumped riskier assets and lenders tightened credit. US homes facing foreclosure almost doubled in July as property owners with adjustable-rate mortgages […]
En bloc sales without tears
SELLERS both eager and reluctant in collective property deals will find out in time if the legislative changes Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S. Jayakumar tabled in Parliament on Monday balance their competing interests. What the latest draft amendments to the Land Titles (Strata) Act will do, as much as they can do for […]
Good class bungalow sold for record $29m
A GOOD class bungalow at 15 White House Park has become mainland Singapore’s most expensive, after it was sold for a record $1,308 per sq ft (psf) – eight years after the historic property was restored and put on sale. The 22,000 sq ft conservation bungalow – called Glencaird – was sold to a Singaporean […]
Inflation gap narrows between bottom and top income groups
WHILE prices for Singaporeans staged their biggest monthly increase in 12 years last month, people in the lowest income groups saw a far lower rate of inflation in the first six months of the year than in the same period last year. Latest figures out yesterday show that the consumer price index (CPI) for the […]
US home price index suffers worst fall ever
NEW YORK – AN INDEX measuring United States house prices suffered its worst decline since its creation 20 years ago, and there is no sign of a bottom, according to a report compiled by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) and economist Robert Shiller. The S&P/Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index fell 3.2 per cent to 183.89 […]
