Swire Properties to invest 12b yuan in more mainland joint ventures
The two joint deals,in Shanghai and Chengdu, will add to the 18b yuan committed so far
Swire Properties plans to invest a further 12 billion yuan (HK$14.7 billion) in two joint-venture commercial developments, in Shanghai and Chengdu, over the next four years.
"By 2016, our mainland portfolio will account for one-third of the group's total gross floor area," said Martin Cubbon, Swire's chief executive.
Speaking after the opening of the developer's 1.89 million square foot retail-office-hotel project in Beijing - Indigo - Cubbon said he expected the central government's move to curb demand in the overheated property market would offer more acquisition opportunities in future.
Swire's mainland portfolio would increase to 13.5 million sq ft by 2016, he said.
Indigo - a 50-50 joint venture between Swire and Sino-Ocean Land - is Swire's third development on the mainland, where its projected capital expenditure of 12 billion yuan will include the Daci Temple project in Chengdu and the Dazhongli project in Shanghai.
The Daci Temple project is also a 50-50 joint venture with Sino-Ocean Land, and will cost about 4 billion yuan. It is expected to be completed by 2014.
The Dazhongli project, a 50-50 joint venture with HKR International, will cost 8 billion yuan, and is set for completion in 2016.
Swire has so far committed to investing 18 billion yuan in two developments in Beijing - Sanlitun Village and Indigo - and one, Taikoo Hui, in Guangzhou.
Cubbon said more than 90 per cent of the office space and 85 per cent of the retail area at the Indigo development had been leased.
Swire aims to achieve an average rent of 200 yuan per square metre for the office space in the project. It declined to disclose retail rents.
Sino-Ocean Land chairman Li Ming said the group would develop about 200,000 square metres of commercial properties annually over the next several years.
Indigo is located in Chaoyang district. It comprises 87,000 sq metres of retail space (Indigo mall), 55,000 sq metres of office space in a 25-storey office tower (One Indigo), and a 369-room hotel (East Beijing).
A subway station on the proposed subway Line No 14, which is under construction, will be located in the Indigo mall basement.
In Hong Kong, Cubbon said Swire had recently leased another flat at the Opus in the Mid-Levels. He did not disclose the monthly rent.
