Korea
Singapore’s Ascendas-Singbridge Buys Seoul Office Tower for $92M
The acquisition by Ascendas Asset Management Co boosts the group’s assets under management in Korea to $590.8 million
Singapore’s Ascendas-Singbridge is adding to its office acquisitions in South Korea by picking up a newly-completed, mid-rise office building in Seoul’s Gangnam district for S$124.3 million ($91.8 million).
Icon Yeoksam in Seoul’s Gangnam district sold for $92 million
A fund managed by the real estate firm acquired the 15-storey, 19,578 square metre ICON Yeoksam, with Ascendas-Singbridge unveiling both the new privately-held investment vehicle and the office deal in a single announcement.
The seller is said to be a joint venture led by a unit of Seoul-based GL Industrial Development, which developed the building and held a 40 percent stake. Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities and Meritz Securities each held a 20 percent share in the project, according to a report by local news outlet ChosunBiz.
The acquisition by Ascendas Asset Management Co boosts the group’s assets under management in Korea to S$800 million ($590.8 million), expanding its total lettable area in the country by one-fifth to 1.3 million square feet (139,355 square metres).
Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Star is Fading – Where Will Asia’s Next Financial Center Be?
Rising concerns over the interventionist policies of the Chinese government have led to Hong Kong losing its luster
Not too long ago, it was universally agreed among the traders and bankers of the world that the city-state of Hong Kong was the place to do business in Asia.
(more…)Korea
There Is Still Time to Develop a Solution to the North Korea Crisis
This isn’t the first time an unpleasant, hostile, and threatening government acquired weapons of mass destruction and the means to attack the United States.
North Korea conducted its highest missile test yet. So much for the Trump administration’s forlorn hope that Pyongyang’s two-month pause of missile tests indicated that the Kim regime was prepared to negotiate terms of surrender with Washington. (more…)
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