Christie Ou
Christie Ou is the Asia-Pacific reporter for PERE covering the private equity real estate markets in the region. Prior to joining PERE, she covered Asia’s business market for Bloomberg Business Week Chinese and the credit market for UK-based Private Debt Investor. She is a native speaker of Cantonese and Mandarin, with solid command of writing and speaking
in English. Christie holds her bachelor degree at London School of Economics and a master degree in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.
Dutch bank ABN AMRO has promoted Brian McGirr to head of debt solutions in Asia and announced two other appointments in the team.
Segregated Funds Group (SFG), the Indian investment arm of real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), has raised INR120 crore ($18 million) at the first close of its new lending vehicle, Residential Opportunities Fund-II (ROF-II). The new fund is targeting up to INR300 crore.
Tim Du Temple has joined JLL as head of debt advisory in Australia. Prior to joining JLL, Du Temple ran his own boutique real estate capital firm and has over a decade of experience in the Australian structured real estate financing market.
8990 Holdings Inc (8990) has mandated China Bank Capital to arrange and underwrite a PHP5 billion-worth ($107 million) securitisation of contracts to sell (CTS). 8990 subsidiaries will sell the CTS in receivables to a special purpose company (SPC) of China Bank Capital, which will then issue three tranches of asset-backed securities (ABS) to investors.
UBS Asset Management (UBS AM) has hired Derek Lai as senior portfolio manager for its Global Real Estate business (GRE).
Investment allocations outside the traditional commercial sectors (office, retail, industrial) have been increasing by 25 percent year-on-year on average over the past 15 years, according to a report by real estate advisor Savills. The report also highlights the rise in European residential investment specifically.
Singapore's Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit) has secured a S$119.5 million ($87.4 million) loan for its S$218-million ($158 million) acquisition of the Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel.
A study from Savills shows that allocations into alternative real estate assets have increased by approximately 25 percent year-on-year over the past 15 years.
Thailand’s Golden Ventures REIT aims to raise 10 billion baht ($283 million; €258 million) to invest in the leasehold rights of two Grade A office buildings in Bangkok’s prime area. The REIT was set up by Univentures and Golden Land, two of Thailand’s major property developers.
The deleveraging process in China is “progressing relatively slowly thus far” according to a report titled “Deleveraging, Destocking and Rebalancing”, authored by Hang Seng Bank acting chief economist Thomas Shik.