Weekly Roundup | 10.31.2023
Top headlines and news impacting Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia commercial real estate.
📰 Canadian Coffee Chain Opens First Branch in Mexico City
Tim Hortons is Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain with 5,252 restaurants in fifteen countries. Tim Hortons merged with Burger King in 2014, for $11.4 billion, under the company Restaurant Brands International which is majority-owned by Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital. This year, the coffee chain announced plans to open 50 new stores in Mexico by 2025 and to invest $30 million. The brand launched in Mexico in 2017.
📰 Argentina Wants Judge to Delay $16.1 Billion Payment to American Firm
The American court has previously ordered Argentina to pay $16.1 billion for its theft and seizure of an American oil company, YPF, in 2012. Argentina hasn’t denied the judgment or that it improperly seized the company. The deadbeat government has become an expert in the dark arts of converting loans and obligations to gifts and write-downs.
📰 Tesla Pumping the Breaks on $5 Billion Factory in Mexico
Tesla has already secured land outside of Monterrey, but hasn’t broken ground. The company confirmed recently the delay is because it is reconsidering the Mexican plant and where it fits in the company’s strategy. Chinese suppliers of Tesla components are likely to delay establishing operations.
📰 Yellowstone to Purchase Land in Medellin for Housing Mega Project
The Colombian real estate GP with ties to America, plans to build 2,600 residential units on the seven blocks purchased for $15.8 million in one of the most valuable areas in the city close to Bancolombia’s HQ and the Museum of Modern Art. The firm recently announced a $475 million final closing on its Fund IV.
📰 Mexico Begins to Think About Investment Incentives
Mexico’s President AMLO wouldn’t give a warm glass of water to a thirsty American investor, yet seems more willing to bend over with glee to accept Chinese advances. Therefore, the mild and not-serious incentives are likely to appeal to the relatively small number of Chinese investors now entering Mexico and crafted to satisfy their requirements.
📰 Emira Property Fund Sells Stake in Rural Retail Property Fund
The listed South African fund sold its 49.9% stake in Enyuka, a leading rural and lower-income retail property fund. The buyer was the partner, One Property Holdings, who agreed to buy Emira out for ZAR 641.5 million (i.e., $35 million). The investment has been decent for Emira earning an average 13.5% annualized return over the holding period of nearly eight years. The return is in Rands not USD, with 10-year treasury bonds yielding a little over 10% at the moment.
📰 BluePeak Private Capital Raises $156 Million for Private Debt Investments in Africa
The mezzanine debt provider has previously backed real estate projects including participating in the $31.5 private credit line for Grit with Ethos in 2022. The LPs include: African Development Bank Group, British International Investment, the European Investment Bank (EIB), FMO - Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, Swedfund International and Sango Capital.
📰 South Korea Looks to African Minerals to Bypass China’s Clamp
Graphite is subject to recent Chinese export controls as a key material used in electric vehicle batteries. Mozambique and Tanzania are the top countries South Korea is engaging with to secure access to the mineral. China is the world’s top producer of graphite.
📰 Thailand to Make More Mayonnaise For Japan’s Kewpie for Export
The dominant mayonnaise and salad dressing brand in Japan will invest ~$20 million to double production of its products in Thailand for export to markets such as Australia. Kewpie has invested more than $65 million to build capacity to manufacture its condiments and dressing in Tennessee. America is the largest mayonnaise and salad dressing consuming market.
📰 Vietnam Seeks Upgrade to Emerging Market Status to Attract Capital Flows
Vietnam is relaxing its stock market settlement procedures for foreign investors as part of a charm offensive to convince equity index managers (i.e., FTSE, MSCI) to place the country in the emerging market indices instead of frontier. Vietnam accounts for around one-third of the frontier indices total capitalization, and has the smallest bourse of the main Southeast Asia exchanges. The Philippines, Qatar and Indonesia have all recently moved from frontier to emerging market status.
📰 Radisson Collection Enters Philippines for the First Time
The brand will be launched in Boracay, one of the most popular beaches in the world. The five-star hotel will feature a 110 room resort with standalone villas, four restaurants and bars, three pools, a jungle gym and wedding pavilion that overlooks the sea. The new resort will be built where the closed Fridays Boracay Resort now sits which is owned by the Panlilio Family.
📰 Vietnam’s Real Estate Debt Market is in Trouble
Developers have missed interest payments on debt and the real estate sector has been the worst performer recently on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange dropping nearly 16% in September. The troubles mirror China’s real estate issues and both communist nations have mismanaged policy around real estate investing and developing. Banks have picked up the slack lately since a high-profile arrest of the billionaire chairwoman of a major real estate firm for financial fraud around private debt issuances which spooked the capital markets.
📰 Most Nations in Southeast Asia See China as the Leading Power
The CSIS report on public and elite opinions in Southeast Asia of China and America show there are warm feelings for America, but much more respect for China. The report discusses each nation’s dynamics vis-à -vis the China and America tug of war.
