Chinese tycoon admits New York Times bid faces obstacles

China's Greenland to invest $2 bln in London real estate @MayorofLondon @storyful http://xhne.ws/WBwuX pic.twitter.com/M6h5B13j0h Chinese tycoon admits New York Times bid faces obstacles Tue, Jan 07 19:19 PM EST By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK Jan 7 (Reuters) - Chinese recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao dialed back his ambitious plans to buy The New York Times Co just over a week after making his intentions public. "The level of difficulty is great," he said through a translator on Tuesday. Chen, known for his flashy philanthropy, does not hold shares in the Times, nor does he plan to buy any of its common shares, he said, noting that the Times rebuffed a request for a meeting. The company, which publishes the namesake newspaper, has a market value of $2.3 billion. Chen, who has been mulling a bid for the prestigious newspaper for the past two years, said last week he thinks it is worth $1 billion. The Ochs-Sulzberger family, which has owned the Times for more than 100 years, controls the company through a trust of Class B shares with special voting rights. He penned a column in The Global Times on January 5 asking readers not to take his intention of buying the paper as a trick or joke. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has said recently the Times is not for sale. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment on Chen. Chen, whose private business is tearing down buildings and bridges, said in an interview on Tuesday that he still covets the newspaper but hopes to find an American entrepreneur to partner with to make the purchase. The interview followed an hour-long press conference in New York in which Chen tackled topics from his desire to help demolish the old San Francisco Bay Bridge to protests by the Falun Gong movement. Dressed in a dark suit, blue and gold striped tie, wearing makeup for the cameras, Chen performed a song he wrote about world peace after his opening remarks. The majority of the conference focused on two Chinese women, a mother and daughter, who are disfigured from a 2001 self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square. Chen brought the women, Hao Huijun and Chen Guo, to New York to pay for medical procedures. That Tiananmen Square incident is a flash point in China involving protests by members of Falun Gong, a practice banned in China since 1999 because the country deemed it a cult. =============== Chinese firm to invest 2 bln USD in London residential projects English.news.cn 2014-01-08 02:01:14 ================================== LONDON, Jan 7 (Xinhua) -- Greenland Holdings Group, one of the major developer in China, announced Tuesday that it will invest in two real estate projects in London with total investment of 1.2 billion pounds (roughly 2 billion U.S. dollars). The first property project of Greenland is a residential development in west London, and the other project is in the Canary Wharf area. Greenland has bought the historic Ram Brewery in Wandsworth, west London, which has an investment value of 600 million pounds. The old beer brewery site, covering a development area of 7.75 acre, is planned to build 661 new homes, including a 36 storey landmark tower providing 166 flats and 9,500 square meters of commercial space for new shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, complementing the site's historic buildings which formed the original Young's brewery. Beer had been brewed at the site continuously since the 16th century, in 1831 becoming the home of brewers Young & Co, which maintained the pub that gave the brewery its name. At a signing ceremony of the Greenland's Ram Brewery project held on Tuesday, Zhang Yuliang, Chairman and President of the Greenland Group said: "London is the global financial center as well as the most open and diversified city that enjoys the most mature economic development, making it the first option for our investment in Europe. "Due to the active trading in London local real estate market in the last two years, the average residential price rose by 10 percent in 2013, and the increase in demand is expected to continue in 2014. "There have been more and more individual investors who favor UK market, thanks to the stable return on asset, high quality assets and sound market liquidity," he said. Greenland is one of the biggest developers in the world with 600 million square feet of large-scale commercial and residential projects currently under construction in 80 cities throughout China as well as real estate projects overseas, including projects in Jeju in South Korea, Pattaya in Thailand, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia and New York and Los Angeles in the USA. ===================== Old Ghanem property sold for record price January 08, 2014 - 5:05:08 am Khalifa Al Mueslemani DOHA: A piece of real estate covering an area of just 2,167 square metres in the city has fetched its owner a record QR230m, with the rate per square metre being QR106,000 ($29,100) — arguably, the highest in the country so far. The property in question is located in the Old Ghanem area, near Bank Street in the heart of Doha, and has a large number of apartments. But, according to a real estate expert, the buyer would most likely demolish the buildings and use the land for his own project. The price offered for the above property puts Doha in league with global metropolises like London, Geneva and Singapore, where real estate is third, fourth and fifth most expensive in the world after Monaco and Hong Kong. A quick look at real estate prices at some of the above locations reveals that Monaco is the most expensive in the world, commanding a per square metre rate of $57,000 to $64,000. With property rates ranging from $49,000 to $54,000 per square metre, Hong Kong’s real estate market is the second most expensive, followed by London ($42,000 to $46,000), Geneva ($29,000 to $32,000) and Singapore ($25,000 to $28,000). No GCC or Middle Eastern city, including Dubai, Makkah and Abu Dhabi, find a place among the top 10. Although real estate prices are not uniform, even in one area in Doha, the way prices are zooming the day shouldn’t be far when the city finds a place among the world’s top 10 cities where property is the most expensive. “Yes, if the demand for land from cash-rich investors continues to grow at today’s pace and supplies remain as restricted, you can’t prevent steep price escalations,” said real estate expert Khalifa Al Mueslemani. He said the Old Ghanem property deal of QR230m concluded last week (December 29, 2013 to January 2, 2014) should be considered one-off because there is hardly any land or property up for grabs in that area. “It’s a prime locality and the property is located in a busy commercial area. In this area, buildings are allowed to have 11 stories, so that must also have been a factor in its high pricing,” Al Muslemani told this newspaper. About the QR230m property sale in Old Ghanem, whose basic details were part of the real estate registration details for last week posted on the justice ministry’s website, he said the land could be used for hotel apartments or for a shopping complex. “This is an area where properties meet most lucrative requirements investors look for. People have money to buy such real estate but there is a serious shortage,” he reiterated. Al Muslemani said banks are also readily providing financing for real estate. ====================== A comparison of costs across the GCC has found that Qatar is the most expensive place to live in the region, Arabian Business reports. The analysis, compiled by Dubai-based company the Cost of Living Reports (CLR), concludes that Qatar puts the most strain on the wallets of its residents overall, followed by the UAE, Saudi, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. Report: Qatar most expensive place to live in the Gulf By: Victoria Scott | 1 hour agoView as "Clean Read" | 1 Comment wallet NohoDaman / Flickr A comparison of like-for-like costs across the GCC has found that Qatar is the most expensive place to live in the region, Arabian Business reports. The analysis, compiled by Dubai-based company the Cost of Living Reports (CLR), concludes that Qatar puts the most strain on the wallets of its residents overall, followed by the UAE, Saudi, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. It compares costs on a variety of living expenses, including housing rental costs, car rental rates, gym membership fees, doctor visits, health insurance, school fees and the price of food and utilities. Rental rise A steep increase in the cost of renting a home in Qatar in recent years seems to have propelled Qatar to the top of the index. The report puts the cost of renting an upmarket two bedroom apartment in Doha at the end of last year at $42,930 a year (around QR13,000 a month.) This is $15,540 more than in the UAE, the second most expensive location for rental in the region. Although that average rental price appears to reflect a comparison of upscale housing options, a series of reports and surveys have continued to show that rent increases are affecting all sectors of Qatar society. Residents have complained that housing allowances in Qatar are not keeping pace with the rental rises, and some have begun moving out of Doha into surrounding areas with more affordable homes. Car hire costs Qatar is also a very expensive place to rent a car. The report puts the cost of hiring a small SUV here at $2,773 per month – almost double the cost for the same vehicle in the UAE, and the most expensive in the region, CLR found. Qatar was also found to be the second most expensive place (behind the UAE) to see a private family doctor in the region, at $54 an appointment. However, Qatar scores relatively well in other areas of the report. It was found to be the cheapest place to buy a basket of 21 daily grocery items - Bahrain was found to be the most expensive at $88.80, followed by Kuwait ($83.68), Oman ($74.28), Saudi ($61.85), UAE ($61.32) and Qatar ($56.19). Cost of living index Chiming with these findings, recently released figures show that the cost of living in Qatar continued to rise in December 2013, up 2.7 percent compared to the same month in 2012. Here too, accommodation costs are putting pressure on the statistics. When rent, and the cost of energy aren’t taken into consideration, the figure is almost a percentage point lower at just 1.9 percent, the QSA states. However, costs are rising across the board. In a year-on-year comparison, the following increases were also noted: •Entertainment, Recreation & Culture – up by 5.2% •Furniture, Textiles & Home Appliances – up by 4.0% •Food, Beverages & tobacco” – up by 3.1% ============== ===================