bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Peggy Sito

Britain-based Prudential Assurance has signed a six-year lease agreement with Wharf (Holdings) to rent 137,000 square feet of office space in Gateway II's Tower Three in Tsim Sha Tsui.

 Michael Leung, chief agency officer of Prudential Assurance, said the company also planned to double its agents from 1,500 to 3,000 to develop its Hong Kong business.

 The Gateway space will be used as the new agency office of Prudential Assurance, which has branches in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, Trade Square in Cheung Sha Wan and DCH Commercial Centre in Quarry Bay.

 Prudential Assurance already leases a floor in Cityplaza 4 in Taikoo Shing as its Hong Kong headquarters and space in Citibank Plaza as a regional office.

 Mr Leung said the company would not reduce its space in the other buildings and would take possession of the first phase of the space in Gateway II at the end of this month.

 Prudential will be allowed to name the office block Prudential Tower.

 The leasing by Prudential was arranged by property agent FPDSavills.

 Doreen Lee Yuk-fong, director and general manager of Wharf's unit Harriman Leasing, said the leasing would boost occupancy rates at the office portion of Towers Three and Five at Gateway II to more than 80 per cent.

 Towers Three and Five will provide 750,000 square feet of grade A office space and 499 serviced apartments. The project had another office block, Tower Six for which leasing would start sometime after the first quarter, said Ms Lee.

 The company would get an annual rental income of $500 million, assuming all the office space in the three towers was leased, she said.

 She said the office market had become stable with developers trimming incentives such as rent-free periods to attract tenants.

 The outlook of the office sector was expected to partly depend on the timing of Beijing's entry to the World Trade Organisation.

INSURANCE 



Prudential rents Wharf space