Swire chasing 2 stakes worth US$1.3 billion in Shanghai firms with prime sites in Pudong

The company, one of Hong Kong’s oldest and largest builders of luxury homes and grade A offices, said in a statement on Monday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Elegant Ocean was looking to take a 40 per cent stake in Shanghai Dongmao Real Estate for 6.6 billion yuan, while another fully-owned unit, United Hill, planned to acquire a similar stake in Shanghai Yaolong Investment for 3.1 billion yuan.

Swire said the transactions were subject to approval by shareholders of state-owned Lujiazui Development, which has a first right to acquire these stakes. Lujiazui Development currently holds 60 per cent stakes in each of the two companies.

“We are very pleased to have this opportunity to bid for two sites with such promising development potential,” Tim Blackburn, Swire Properties’ CEO, said in the statement. “We are steadily building up an exciting project pipeline in the Chinese mainland under our ambitious HK$100 billion [US$12.8 billion] investment plan, and we want to do more.

“These two potential investments represent a very important part of this growth strategy, and demonstrate our long-term commitment to the Chinese mainland.”

Dongmao owns a land parcel in the Yangjing area on the eastern bank of Huangpu River that can be developed into retail space, office buildings and residential units covering a total gross area of 389,932 square metres. Yaolong is developing a mixed-use complex that encompasses retail, office and residential space in the New Bund area in Pudong, or east of Huangpu, which will have a total gross floor area of 602,431 square metres.