Update | Li Ka-shing sells Shanghai complex for US$2.95 billion while yuan takes a tumble
Buyer of the complex is majority owned by China Life, whose shares lost 1.5 per cent in early trading on Thursday
Tycoon Li Ka-shing has sold a Shanghai office and retail complex to a company majority owned by China Life Insurance Co for 20 billion yuan ($2.95 billion), paring his investment on the mainland while the yuan has taken a tumble.
Li’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings (CK Property) and the Li Ka Shing (Overseas) Foundation agreed to sell their combined 100 per stake in the Century Link complex in Pudong’s Lujiazui district to a company that’s been set up for the purchase, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“The disposal enables the company to realise its investment” and it expects to record an unaudited gain of about HK$6.22 billion after the transaction, CK Property said in its statement.
China Life shares lost 1.50 per cent to HK$19.70 in early trading on Thursday in Hong Kong, while CK Property remained largely flat.
The yuan has depreciated by 2 per cent against the US dollar since mid-August, after having weakened by 6.6 per cent in the past year, prompting many businesses to get out of renminbi-denominated assets.
Last year, CK Property was reportedly looking for a buyer to purchase the development with an asking price of 20 billion yuan. Over the past two years, companies backed by Li and his family have sold a number of office and shopping mall projects in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing and Guangzhou.
The Century Link complex comprises two 34-storey towers and a retail podium in Lujiazui.