logo
Developer Tai Hung Fai gets private loan of up to HK$900 million: sources

Developer Tai Hung Fai gets private loan of up to HK$900 million: sources

Business Times17 hours ago
[HONG KONG] Hong Kong developer Tai Hung Fai Enterprise, founded by billionaire Edwin Leong, has secured a private loan of up to HK$900 million (S$148 million), sources familiar with the matter said, as more property firms turn to such financing.
Dignari Capital Partners, an Asian private debt firm, provided the two-year loan, which will go to covering construction costs for a 30-storey office tower in the western part of Hong Kong Island, the sources said.
The location at 92-103A Connaught Road West is near a memorial park for the revolutionary Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen, and close to the waterfront with views over the famed Victoria Harbour.
Total capital provided for the loan up to the maximum drawdown will depend on construction costs and the needs of the project manager, the sources said.
A spokesperson for Tai Hung Fai declined to comment, while Dignari did not respond to requests for comment.
Hong Kong developers are increasingly seeking private credit, after China's years-long property debt crisis spilt over into the city, leaving banks wary of piling on more real estate debt as they struggle to handle a growing pile of non-performing loans.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
Sign Up
Sign Up
In May, Gaw Capital Partners provided a HK$300 million private loan to Hong Kong real estate developer First Group Holdings, while investment firm PAG provided Hong Kong Parkview Group with a HK$300 million private bridge loan, Bloomberg News reported in May.
Tai Hung Fai was founded in 1977 by Leong initially as an investment company.
It has since evolved into a property development firm with a portfolio of over 450 retail shops, commercial buildings and several hotels, including the Hotel Indigo and Hotel 1936, according to the company's website.
Leong has a net worth of US$3.3 billion as at Jul 31, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BLOOMBERG
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

These 5 SGX listcos made it to Forbes Asia's list of top 200 APAC small- and mid-cap firms
These 5 SGX listcos made it to Forbes Asia's list of top 200 APAC small- and mid-cap firms

Business Times

time2 minutes ago

  • Business Times

These 5 SGX listcos made it to Forbes Asia's list of top 200 APAC small- and mid-cap firms

[SINGAPORE] Forbes Asia announced its 2025 'Best Under A Billion' list on Tuesday (Aug 5), which comprises 200 top-performing small- and mid-cap firms in the Asia-Pacific region this year. The companies on this list have recorded annual sales exceeding US$10 million, but not more than US$1 billion. A composite scoring system was used to select these companies. These are measures such as debt, sales and earnings per share growth over both the most recent fiscal one- and three-year periods. It also factored in the strongest one- and five-year average return on equity. Of these 200 companies, five from Singapore made the cut in 2025: 1. Singapore Exchange (SGX) SGX had the largest market capitalisation among the five listcos that made the Forbes Asia list, of S$17.3 billion, ShareInvestor data indicated. Its total securities market turnover value rose 23 per cent year on year in June to S$26 billion . In addition, the volume of derivatives was also up 17 per cent to 26.1 million contracts in the same month, for its FY2025 traded volume to reach 315.8 million contracts. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The local bourse had four new listings this year – of automotive solutions provider Vin's Holdings, Info-Tech Systems, NTT DC real estate investment trust (Reit), and Lum Chang Holdings, in addition to a secondary listing by China Medical Systems. Various analysts have said the Singapore market is a 'safe haven' amid geopolitical tensions caused by conflict in the Middle East and tariff uncertainty. Its full-year results for FY2025 are expected to be released before trading hours on Aug 8. 2. iFAST The Singapore-based wealth management platform made its Forbes Asia list debut this year, with a market capitalisation of about S$2.8 billion. In July, it was one of five counters listed on SGX that led net institutional inflows, with a total returns rate of 37.3 per cent of the month. The group posted a 34.7 per cent year on year rise in net profit for the first half ended June of S$41.1 million, from S$30 million. Revenue for the same period was up 19.7 per cent to S$194.9 million, from S$162.8 million in H1 FY2024. Earnings per share for H1 also rose to S$0.1368 from S$0.1028 in the same year-ago period. The fintech company had been boosted by the improving performance of its UK digital bank iFAST Global Bank in Q2, which it acquired in March 2022. It had also been granted a trust business licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore earlier on May 2 . 3. Centurion Founded in 1984, Centurion has purpose-built worker (PBWA) assets in Singapore and Malaysia, and purpose-built student accomodation (PBSA) assets in Australia, the UK and the US. The group also has build-to-rent assets in China. The PBWSA provider has a market capitalisation of S$1.5 billion. Centurion on Jul 14 announced its proposed listing on a new Reit – Centurion Accommodation Reit – for the mainboard of SGX. Its initial public offering would include 14 assets at launch, made of five PBWA properties in Singapore, eight PBSA properties in the UK and one PBSA property in Australia, with an initial portfolio value of over S$1.8 billion . The Singapore-headquartered group was recognised as a 'small-cap jewel' by RHB Group Research in its May 16 report, and reported a 13 per cent increase in revenue to S$69 million for Q1 ended Mar 31, from S$61.1 million in the same year-ago period. Its H1 FY2025 ended Jun 30 results are scheduled for release on Aug 7 after trading hours. 4. Credit Bureau Asia Listed on the SGX on Dec 3, 2020, the credit and risk information solutions player has a market capitalisation of around S$322.2 million. The investment holding company operates two core segments – first, the Financial Institution (FI) Data Business, which offers consumer or business credit reporting, scoring, analytics and monitoring, and second, the Non‑FI Data Business, which provides commercial credit reports, risk management tools, receivables services and insights. For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2024, CBA posted a revenue of S$59.7 million, up 10 per cent year on year, with Patmi rising 14 per cent to S$11.2 million. Its net profit before tax stood at S$30.5 million. The board's recommendation brought the final dividend payout to S$0.04 per share, an 8.1 per cent increase from FY2023. In April 2025, its subsidiary Credit Bureau (Singapore) received a consumer credit bureau licence from MAS, enabling full consumer credit reporting operations in Singapore. 5. Grand Banks Yachts The luxury yacht builder has a market capitalisation of S$97 million, and manufactures yachts under the brands of Grand Banks, Eastbay and Palm Beach. Grand Banks Yachts operates out of its manufacturing yard at Pasir Gudang, Johor, in Malaysia and provides customer support out of its service yard at Stuart, Florida, in the US. These yachts range between 42 feet and 85 feet. The yacht manufacturer was first established in 1956, and initially named American Marine Limited, Hong Kong. It subsequently opened a factory in Singapore in 1969, and was incorporated in the city-state in 1976 amid a management change. In recent times, the small-cap's Q3 net profit dipped by 42.4 per cent to S$2.3 million , from around S$4 million in the corresponding quarter a year prior. This was on the back of its sale of more lower-margin trade-in boats, in addition to higher costs from product enhancements, as noted in a May 19 bourse filing. Revenue for the third quarter did grow by 37.8 per cent to S$40.1 million, from S$29.1 million in the same year-ago period.

Asian container liners set for profit drop as tariff boom fades
Asian container liners set for profit drop as tariff boom fades

Business Times

time32 minutes ago

  • Business Times

Asian container liners set for profit drop as tariff boom fades

[HONG KONG] Asian container liners' profits might have just peaked. A sharp drop in shipping rates could be on the cards later this year after tariff-driven demand in the second quarter pulled forward volumes from the traditional third-quarter peak season. Transpacific trade picked up during the US-China tariff truce with freight prices up sharply in June. As capacity recovered, smaller players such as China United Lines even started resumed transpacific services after a period of absence. 'Container volume data seems to suggest that Chinese liners saw the greatest increase in demand during the tariff truce, compared to peers in Japan and South Korea, which suggests the former could potentially see a more robust quarter,' said Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) analyst Kenneth Loh. The rest of the year could be dampened by weaker trade growth as sentiment remains soft, while volumes brought forward could trigger deeper rate corrections, said Philip Damas, managing director and head of Supply Chain Advisors at Drewry Group. Earnings from Japanese liners are showing the peak might be over, with Mitsui OSK Lines failing to impress investors as US tariff threats impacted its container shipping business, and Nippon Yusen KK cutting full-year guidance on currency fluctuations and tariff turmoil. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up Chinese peers, meanwhile, might get one last cheer before a harsher reality sets in, as front-loading and strong exports in the first half could boost the likes of Cosco Shipping Holdings. Petering out Signs of slowing trade in China after record-breaking volumes signal the front-loading boost could start to peter out. A tariff reprieve merely postpones demand headwinds, HSBC analysts, including Parash Jain, wrote in a mid-July note. 'Even worse, the accelerated vessel delivery schedule will collide with potentially weakening demand, exacerbating overcapacity.' From the third quarter on, transpacific container traffic is set to decline with only a slight seasonal uptick seen in the second quarter of 2026, said Damas. 'The container shipping market is fundamentally in a cyclical downturn, with temporary rate spikes driven only by disruptive shocks rather than demand-side strength.' Beyond mainland China and Japan, Taiwan's Evergreen Marine and Yang Ming Marine Transport could see full-year earnings fall by more than half as trade uncertainties weigh. In Europe, AP Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are also expected to see a continued slowdown. US-China trade talks are progressing with US President Donald Trump set to make the final call on maintaining a tariff truce with China. Any deal that's more favourable than expected for China could yield greater upside for the country's liners, said BI's Loh. Diversification Even tariffs considered favourable could still weigh on rates and volumes, said Damas, noting the revised 15 per cent tariff on Japan is still higher than a year ago and is likely to reduce Japanese containerised exports to the US overall. 'For China, it is too early to say how adverse the impact of revised tariffs will be on container lines' according to Damas. 'There are signs that China exports to regions other than the US are growing fast.' China's trade surplus reached record levels in the first six months of the year, as the country sought to diversity exports away from the US and tapped South-east Asia. Somewhat shielded from tariff rumblings, more high-growth markets such as intra-Asia trade lanes are displacing the transpacific in terms of global importance amid such uncertainties, according to BI's Loh. Since this March, China-Asean export volumes are now double that of China-US, traditionally the most important route in container shipping. Drewry's Damas is also seeing container lines shift China-built ships from US-connected routes to non-US routes, likely to avoid levies due to be imposed by the US administration from October. 'We expect that container lines will cancel many more sailings, increase demolitions of ships and take other measures to manage over-supply in the second half of this year,' Damas said. BLOOMBERG

New Zealand labour market remains soft, adds to rate-cut expectation
New Zealand labour market remains soft, adds to rate-cut expectation

Business Times

time32 minutes ago

  • Business Times

New Zealand labour market remains soft, adds to rate-cut expectation

[WELLINGTON] New Zealand's jobless rate rose slightly in the second quarter as the labour market remained soft, supporting the view that the central bank will proceed with a flagged 25 basis-point interest cut at its August policy meeting. The jobless rate reached 5.2 per cent for April-June from 5.1 per cent three months prior while employment fell 0.1 per cent, Statistics New Zealand data showed on Wednesday. The labour force participation rate - which includes workers either employed or actively looking for work - fell to 70.5 per cent from 70.7 per cent, its lowest since the first quarter of 2021. The jobless rate compared with the 5.3 per cent average of analyst estimates compiled by Reuters and matched the central bank's forecast. Following the data release, the New Zealand dollar was steady at US$0.5899 and the chance of an Aug 20 rate cut reached 88 per cent. After a strong start to 2025, the economy's momentum looks to be slowing and the outlook remains incredibly uncertain, senior economist Mark Smith at ASB Bank said in a client note. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'With the trajectory for medium-term inflation well within the (central bank's) 1-3 per cent target range, further monetary easing looks appropriate to support the labour market and broader New Zealand economy,' Smith said. Since August 2024, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has cut its cash rate by 225 basis points to support an economy which sank into recession last year. The economy showed signs of improvement with gross domestic product increasing 0.8 per cent in the first quarter. Last month, the central bank held the cash rate steady at 3.25 per cent to assess the impact of trade ruction and a slight acceleration in inflation but indicated a further cut was likely in August. Wednesday's data indicated the economy continues to operate with a considerable degree of excess capacity which could slow the rate of inflation, said ANZ senior economist Miles Workman in a note. This data and the possibility that firms could start to shed excess labour over the second half of this year 'means we think the RBNZ will over time start putting more weight on downside medium-term inflation risks,' Workman said. Statistics New Zealand said wage growth increased in the second quarter with its private-sector labour cost index excluding overtime recording a 0.6 per cent lift, compared with 0.4 per cent in the prior quarter and in line with forecasts. Seasonally adjusted private-sector wages increased 2.2 per cent. REUTERS

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store