CapitaLand

CapitaLand's wholly owned serviced-residence business unit, The Ascott, has secured seven contracts to manage more than 1,300 apartments across six cities in China.

These properties mark Ascott's first foray into Kunming and Yichang while deepening its presence in Chongqing, Dalian, Shenzhen and Xuzhou.

To date, Ascott has added more than 2,700 units across 15 properties in China this year. This is a 56 per cent increase compared with the more than 1,700 units and 10 properties secured in the first half of last year.

Croesus Retail Trust

Private equity firm Blackstone Group is in the process of buying mainboard-listed Croesus Retail Trust, which operates retail properties in Japan, Dow Jones has reported, citing sources.

Croesus Retail requested a trading halt yesterday.

The company manages a portfolio worth about $1.5 billion consisting mainly of shopping malls in places such as Osaka, Hatsukaichi City and Sobu-machi.

Croesus, which is backed by its partners Daiwa House Industry and Marubeni, said in April that it had been approached with an acquisition offer and that it was engaged in preliminary talks. Croesus did not identify the party it was talking to.

Croesus units closed at $1.055 last Friday.

UnUsUaL

UnUsUaL Entertainment, a unit of Catalist-listed UnUsUaL, will be bringing Denmark's biggest pop-rock band, Michael Learns to Rock, live to three Asian markets - Manila, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The Eternal Asia Tour 2017 will be staged first in Manila's Kia Theatre in Cubao, Quezon City, on Aug 31, before making its way to the Singapore Indoor Stadium and Resorts World Genting in Malaysia on Sept 2 and Sept 3, respectively.