〈Asian Post, March 10, 2018〉HNA Group, one of the mainland's biggest global asset buyers since 2012, has sold the third of its four plots of development landat Hong Kong's former Kai Tak airport site, as it steps up asset disposals to repay borrowings, amid pressure from regulators and creditors.

The Hainan-based company sold the plot, bought in January, 2017 for HK$5.53 billion, to Wheelock & Co for HK$6.36 billion, netting a profit of HK$830 million from the 425,360 sq ft site. Sales of the three plots for a combined HK$21.53 billion since February have earned HNA a net gain of HK$2.54 billion.

Wheelock, one of Hong Kong's biggest builders of luxury homes and shopping centres, said the purchase presented an opportunity to expand its property portfolio in Kai Tak, a waterfront area facing Victoria Harbour.

Wheelock already has a piece of land at Kai Tak, bought for HK$2.5 billion in 2014, on which it is launching Oasis Kai Tak, a residential development.

The transaction, signed yesterday in Hong Kong, is expected to be completed by May 16, according to a filing by Wheelock to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

In February, HNA sold two pieces of land to Henderson Land Development for HK$16 billion, giving the Hong Kong developer its first foothold in Kai Tak. The two plots have a gross floor area of 1.06 million sq ft.

HNA made a profit of HK$1.7 billion from that sale. The mainland enterprise, laden with huge debt, has been looking for ways to pare down obligations.

Earlier this week, Park Hotels & Resorts, the real estate spin-off of Hilton Worldwide Holdings, said in a statement that HNA had priced a secondary offering of its 34.48 million shares at US$25.75 apiece.

The deal, expected to close on March 9, will raise US$896.8 million. HNA bought a quarter stake in Hilton Worldwide in 2016 from its biggest shareholder, US private equity giant Blackstone Group for US$6.5 billion, as part of its overseas acquisitions over the past three years.

〈The Standard, March 10, 2018〉MTR Corporation (0066) yesterday said net profit last year jumped 64 percent to HK$16.8 billion.

It said earnings from Hong Kong property developments spiked from HK$311 million in 2016 to HK$1.1 billion last year. Its board has recommended a final dividend of 87 HK cents per share, bringing total dividends to HK$1.12 per share for the year.

Basic earnings per share were HK$2.83, up from HK$1.74. Over the next four years, it will expand its investment properties portfolio in Hong Kong by adding 1.1 million square feet of gross floor area to its retail portfolio, an increase of about 34 percent, the company said. It said the development of the new LOHAS Park shopping center in Tseung Kwan O and the Tai Wai shopping center is ongoing and target completion is set by the end of 2020 and 2022, respectively.

MTR noted that rents remained under pressure in the retail segment. Retail rents declined moderately toward the end of last year as the sector was affected by a dip in tourist spending and the growing popularity of e-commerce.

As of end-December last year, it rented out 1,416 retail shops across its stations, 24 shops more from a year earlier. They occupied a total of about 632,000 square meters of retail premises. The increase in the number of retail shops that were rented out was due to the opening of 11 new shops at Hung Hom, Kowloon and Wan Chai stations.

〈The Standard, March 9, 2018〉Developer Wharf Holdings (0004) has spent HK$25.5 billion on investing in listed equities since the second half of 2017, which helped it record a 14 percent, year-on-year growth figure in core profit last year. The company said a comparison with 2016 could not be made because of it spinning off Wharf Real Estate Investment Co (1997).

Chairman Stephen Ng Tin-hoi said the company had too much cash in hand so it invested in property stocks to earn dividends. Ng emphasized that such investments could not be regarded as speculating in the stock market. He said Wharf had also purchased "new economy" stocks in the mainland and in the United States, and it will invest in unlisted companies mainly in mainland market.

Wharf and parent Wheelock and Co (0020) would not make a specific division in land bidding since Hong Kong has a large property market, Ng added.

Wharf's annual growth took the core profit figure to HK$15.7 billion in 2017. On Wharf REIC, which owns Harbour City and Times Square, it was noted that had there not been a demerger Wharf Holdings' core profit last year would have increased 21 percent to HK$16.6 billion. On the other hand, had the demerger been completed prior to 2016 last year's core profit would have increased by 36 percent to HK$7.1 billion.

〈The Standard, March 8, 2018〉Hong Kong ranked third in Asia for ultra-wealthy people in 2017, with 5,140 qualifying, behind Japan and mainland China, says a report by Knight Frank.

In The Wealth Report 2018, the global property consultancy says Asia overtook Europe as home to the second-largest population of ultra-wealthy people last year.

Japan was tops in Asia with 9,960 individuals, followed by 8,800 in the mainland.The report also predicts that mainland China is expected to see the strongest growth in ultra-wealthy population between 2017 and 2022.

Although the SAR is not the city with the largest population of ultra-wealthy people, it has the second-highest density of ultra-wealthy in the world, with 70 individuals per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's luxury homes remain the second most expensive in the world for the sixth year in a row.

David Ji, head of research and consultancy in greater China at Knight Frank, forecast that luxury residential prices in Hong Kong will increase between 7 and 8 percent in 2018, the second strongest growth in prices this year.

Recently, a luxury house in Kowloon Tong was sold for HK$212 million, or about HK$68,200 per sellable square foot, according to the Land Registry.

The 3,241-sellable-sq-ft house at Eden Gate was built by Chinachem Group, with a 2,100-sq-ft garden and an 828-sq-ft rooftop deck.

A 1,232 ssf flat at Peninsula Heights in Kowloon Tong was sold for HK$22.8 million, or about HK$18,500 per ssf, according to Centaline Property. The owner bought the flat at 63 Broadcast Drive for about HK$9 million in 2007.

〈Asian Post, March 8, 2018〉A court validated the will of billionaire philanthropist Yu Pang-lin giving his HK$10 billion estate to charity, with the judge saying it illustrated "the better part of human personality".

Yu's grandson, Pang Chi-ping, sole trustee of the Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, had asked the High Court in 2015 to declare the will made on July 21, 2011, as the "true last and final will" of the tycoon, and to override two caveats raised by his son Pang Ah-fan and grandson Pang San-hon. The pair later declared they would not challenge the will.

Pang's lawyer said the doctor who examined Yu found him to be in a good mental state when he made the will to donate all of his assets, which included cash and properties. Among them was Bruce Lee's former mansion in Kowloon Tong, which Yu bought for about HK$1 million in 1974.

In granting probate to Pang - or a court order authorising him to execute Yu's will - Mr Justice David Lok observed that probate cases often reflected human personality due to the involvement of relatives, with brothers and sisters turning against each other.?

But this case was different as Yu's family supported his charitable intentions to donate his full estate to the trust.?"It brings out the better part of human personality," Lok said.?Yu, a native of Hunan, moved to Hong Kong in 1958 and once worked as a toilet cleaner before making a fortune in the hotel and property business.