SINGAPORE (Dec 17): NOON Capital and Asia Capital Real Estate (ACRE) on Monday announced the launch of a US$25 million ($34 million) project in Phuket, Thailand, as part of a partnership that will see the two companies sink up to US$150 million into a Thailand-focussed real estate fund.
The Phuket project is the first of at least six multi-family development projects, with further expansion expected across cities such as Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
NOON Capital is a Southeast Asia-based property developer and manager while ACRE is a private real estate investment firm.
The decision to focus on Thailand is due to its increasing demand for mid- and long-term rental residences amid rising wages and expanding job opportunities, which are seen to increasingly draw expats as well as Thai nationals to the urban centres.
In a press release on Monday, NOON Capital says it is seeing interest around building estate management solutions on the blockchain. The company is piloting blockchain on their existing revenue generating and development phase projects. These properties are part of a portfolio to be listed on blockchain and can be liquidated in a relatively short time frame.
NOON Capital says it has finalised the legal and compliance infrastructure. It adds that it is in talks with upcoming security token exchanges to provide additional avenue for investors to trade on a secondary market.
Once the digital securities are consolidated, NOON Capital plans to apply the same process to the multi-family projects, giving access to smaller investors.
The process is said to have garnered interest from family offices and high-net-worth individuals, creating a new avenue for traditional real estate investors if they are searching for innovative ways to gain exposure.
“We share an optimistic outlook towards Thailand’s rental market, and we look forward to our continued collaboration with NOON Capital,” says Blake Olafson, managing partner at ACRE.
“We have received an extremely positive response from prominent institutional investors since the launch of the fund, and we are aiming to close its next phase within the next six to 12 months,” says Luca Dotti, managing partner of NOON Capital.
