From HKFP – arrests are still taking place for involvement in the 2019 protests. Six are charged with weapons offenses, with two also alleged to have conspired to incite others to riot. One was recently acquitted of terrorism charges.
Bloomberg looks at investors trying to reduce their exposure to Hong Kong’s property market…
When Blackstone Inc. bet on Hong Kong’s commercial real estate sector in 2014, it bought a 20,000-square-foot retail space in the bustling Mong Kok district for HK$700 million ($90 million) to target mainland Chinese tourists seeking brand-name wear.
Today, the space that once housed Forever 21 is valued at less than half that amount and Blackstone is in talks with Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co. to renegotiate terms of a loan for the property…
The soured bet by the world’s largest alternative asset manager offers a glimpse into the risks for global private equity funds that poured $17 billion into Hong Kong’s once-booming commercial real estate market between 2010 and 2019, according to data from Colliers. From Gaw Capital Partners to Schroders Plc, investors are facing a dilemma: Sink more cash into struggling properties or forfeit them to lenders.
…The average price of retail space in the city plunged 41% as of August from a 2018 peak, according to Hong Kong government data. Offices, near their worst vacancy rates, have also tanked 49% in value.
That’s eroding the collateral value behind many bank loans, which could lead to margin calls, refinancing challenges and in more severe cases distressed asset disposals.
William Pesek in Asia Times on the Trump-Xi meeting…
On Thursday, Trump gushed about an “amazing” meeting with Xi, where he agreed to cut China’s tariff to 47%. But the odds that posterity will concur are exceedingly low.
For one thing, there’s nothing “grand” about the bargain to which Trump and Xi are discussing in the loosest and vaguest terms possible. Specifics, targets, enforcement mechanisms and punishment for non-compliance will all be discussed by US and Chinese trade officials at a future date.
Nothing on the table, though, alters the mechanics of a US$659 billion trade relationship in any notable way. Face-saving agreements to throttle back on tariffs, buy more soybeans and increase the flow of rare-earth minerals are grand on some levels. But narrowing America’s trade deficit with China requires a wholesale remaking of commercial dynamics.
For another, myriad tripwires could — and likely will — return Trump and Xi to battle stations. Count the ways things could go awry: China depreciating the yuan; Trump depreciating the dollar; the US economy slowing sharply; either side failing to live up to a deal; domestic political troubles prompting either leader to lash out abroad.
On YouTube, James Marsh reviews a new Hong Kong animated fantasy Another World. Sounds more like a Ghibli derivative than something authentically local.
But the movie version of Kobayashi-san’s Maid Dragon is opening soon.
MAGADON is continuing “flooding the zone with siht”. Now also including China.