Tycoon sells Century Link for $2.95 billion

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Chinese tycoon Li Ka-shing has sold the Century Link office and retail complex in Shanghai for 20 billion yuan (US$2.95 billion).

Li’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings (CK Property) and the Li Ka Shing (Overseas) Foundation agreed to sell their combined 100 per ownership of the complex, in Pudong’s Lujiazui district, to a company set up especially for the deal. China Life Insurance is the majority shareholder, with the minority stake held by closed-end funds managed by ARA Fund Management, in which CK Property owns 7.8 per cent. The purchaser, known as Mapleleaf Century, will be managed by ARA.

Century Link comprises two 34-storey towers and a retail podium.

“The disposal enables the company to realise its investment,” says CK Property. It expects to record an unaudited gain of about HK$6.22 billion (US$801.9 million) after the transaction.

CK Property was reportedly looking for a buyer for the development last year. Over the past two years, companies backed by Li and his family have sold office and shopping mall projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing.

Many businesses have been prompted to shed renminbi-denominated assets, reports the South China Morning Post, following the yuan depreciating by 2 per cent against the US dollar since mid-August after having weakened by 6.6 per cent in the past year.

Five days before the announcement of the sale, China Life led the acquisition of a US$2 billion stake in American hotels owned by Starwood Capital Group.

The net proceeds from the Shanghai property disposal are intended to be used by the group as general working capital, says CK Property.

In Hong Kong, CK Property is selling The Center in Central, the tallest building in its portfolio, with an asking price of HK$35 billion. The 73-storey tower, which has 1.2 million sqft (111,483.6 sqm) of office space, 13,000 sqft of retail space and 402 car parks, has attracted a handful of potential buyers.

CK Property owns 48 storeys in The Center building after Malaysian developer Guoco Group bought 11 floors in 1997. Nine of the 11 floors were sold to Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings in 1998, while CK Property sold the 60th and 79th floors in 1999.


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