Weekly Asia News (Friday)

AMP Capital is to relaunch one of Australia's largest unlisted retail direct property funds. Previously under the management of AXA Australia, AMP Capital will implement a new strategy for the Wholesale Australian Property Fund which has assets worth AUD760 million. »

Aviva Investors has been appointed to manage the AUB Pan Asia Investment Fund Limited. AUB is a commercial and investment banking group providing wealth management, retail, corporate, treasury, offshore and private banking services across the Middle East. »

Asia-Pacific – most notably Beijing – is experiencing a boom in office rents fuelled by rising demand and increasingly limited supply, according to Cushman & Wakefield. As the Chinese calendar moves into the Year of the Dragon, prime office rents in Beijing have risen year-on-year by 75%, a steeper increase than 2010 (48%) and the highest increase of any city in the world during 2011. »

Grosvenor Asia Pacific Limited has acquired the luxury apartment building Roppongi Arents in Tokyo. The building was constructed in 2003 in conjunction with the development of Roppongi Hills. »

Offshore law firm, Mourant Ozannes, has opened an office in Hong Kong to provide clients and intermediaries with access to the firm's offshore legal services in an Asian time zone. »

Asian investors accounted for GBP1.7 billion worth of transactions in Central London’s office investment market during 2011, compared to GBP668 million in 2010; a 150 per cent increase, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. »

Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield’s 2012 forecast for the office market in the Asia-Pacific region remains positive – stable yet slow against a backdrop of a weakening global economy. Whilst the region’s economy remains a catalyst of leasing activity, sustained global tension could undermine confidence, moderating demand for commercial properties.   »

eFront, a software provider of solutions for the alternative investment market, has opened a new office in the heart of Singapore’s financial and trade centre. »

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has suspended the Australian financial services licence of Gold Coast-based Equititrust Limited ACN 061 383 944 (Equititrust) for 12 months, for failing to comply with a number of key obligations as a financial services licensee. Equititrust is the responsible entity of the Equititrust Income Fund (EIF) and the Equititrust Priority Class Income Fund (EPCIF). »

With the sovereign debt crisis at its peak in Europe and the USA and the volatility of capital markets persisting, Asian real estate markets have slightly been forgotten lately. Although the first signs of uncertainty have started to emerge on the Asian continent as well, with listed real estate companies trading at discounts, real estate fundamentals remain largely sound. »