CHINA’S outbound real estate investment surged 50 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2015 to US$15.6 billion as insurers increasingly diversified their investment portfolios, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle yesterday.
“We are seeing a structural shift with Chinese insurance companies globalizing their investment portfolios, including real estate,” said David Green Morgan, global research director at JLL.
“Continued loosening of outbound investment regulations since 2012 is driving China’s insurance groups to actively seek real estate assets in gateway cities around the world.”
It’s a trend that JLL expects will continue as the five biggest Chinese insurers have channeled only around 1 percent of their invested capital in real estate, below the regulatory ceiling of 15 percent.
Chinese insurance groups could allocate up to US$240 billion to invest in real estate outside China over the long term, according to JLL’s forecasts.
JLL said outbound investment in real estate will rise to US$20 billion this year from US$16.5 billion in 2014.
Chinese real estate investments this year include Hainan Airline’s purchase of the building housing Reuters headquarters in London, and China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance’s joint US$500 million Boston development project, known as Pier 4. Anbang Insurance also sealed three investment deals in Waldorf Astoria New York, a Manhattan office building, and an office tower in Toronto’s financial district.
 

CHINESE mainland enterprises sealed a record 257 merger and acquisition deals in the first three quarters of 2015, surpassing the total for the whole of last year, a report showed yesterday.
The number of M&A deals surged 46 percent from the same period of last year while the deal value rose just 5 percent year on year to US$45.1 billion, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in the report.
PwC attributed the increase to the Chinese government actively facilitating outbound investment and a favorable market environment.
“From a financing perspective, easy monetary policies, low interest rates and reserve ratios, and a significant surge in China’s stock markets in the first half of 2015 have helped to drive deals,” said Andrew Li, PwC China advisory services leader.
Listed companies led the mainland’s outbound M&A deals, with the number of deals sealed by them taking up 62 percent of the total in the first three quarters, data showed.
Privately owned enterprises continued to be a key driver as they sealed 167 deals, more than three times that of state-owned enterprises for the period.
“Privately owned enterprises’ outbound activities covered a wide range of sectors with investors searching overseas manufacturers with advanced technology, consumer companies with brand and customer assets and media and entertainment companies with focus on lifestyle improvement,” Li noted.
SOEs sealed US$23 billion in M&As due to mega deals, compared with US$14.5 billion for private companies, the report said.
PwC predicted outbound M&A activities will continue in the fourth quarter and next year.
 

Volkswagen China is to recall 5,906 Bentley Flying Spur and Continental luxury sedans imported into the Chinese mainland over a potential problem with the battery cable, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement yesterday.
The affected cars are from the 2012-2014 model years. They were produced between February 5, 2012, and May 15, 2014.
Their 12-volt battery cable has a bolted connection that may become loose. If it loosens, the battery won’t be able to ignite the engine to start, leaving the cable to overheat and posing a fire risk.
The recall is to replace the battery cable bolts.
Owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted by Bentley dealerships from November 10.
 

The CBRC data showed commercial banks’ total assets gained 10 percent during the period while their liabilities grew 9.3 percent.