Blackstone moves out of China property deal

SOHO China

13/09/2021 04:31

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are their own.)
    HONG KONG, Sept 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Blackstone
 BX.N  has abandoned a second attempt  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QC2CY to take Hong
Kong-listed mainland property developer Soho China  0410.HK 
private, per a Reuters report. The companies said https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2021/0910/2021091000324.pdf
 that the preconditions for sealing the $3.3 billion offer had
not been met. One of those was that Beijing approve the deal. 
    Steve Schwarzman’s private-equity firm first went after the
owner of choice properties in Shanghai and Beijing in March
2020, per a Reuters report citing anonymous sources, but that
effort https://www.breakingviews.com/considered-view/blackstone-unearths-rough-chinese-property-gem/?bved=OQ%3D%3D&bvshr=MTc0Njk1
 collapsed. Soho shares fell some 36% on Monday after news
Blackstone’s June bid had failed, too. 
    This is probably not about Schwarzman, who has spent heavily
to ingratiate himself in Beijing. Soho’s founders, power couple
Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, checked all the wrong boxes. They were
political trouble even before this summer’s crackdowns on
property and flashy billionaires, and Chinese netizens were
already railing against them for trying to sell out and flee.
Unfortunately for Blackstone, most other Chinese real estate
tycoons check similar boxes. (By Pete Sweeney)
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Graphic: Blackstone’s failed attempts to take soho private have
induced massive volatility    https://tmsnrt.rs/3BX9Vge
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by Antony Currie and Katrina Hamlin)
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