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

Sue Green

A FAMILY company connected with Hong Kong press magnate Ma Ching-kwan has bought Sydney's Hilton Hotel and the 44-storey Capital Centre of which it forms a part for about HK$740 million.

  Sydney's biggest property deal of the year marks the re-entry of Hong Kong buyers into the Sydney hotel market.

  Industry observers were surprised by the size of the transaction, given that it was the first in Australia by the buyer, Sunrise Resources.

  However, Sunrise is now said to be looking for other suitable property investments in Australia.

  Neither the price nor the identity of Sunrise's owners were revealed in the formal announcement of the sale, which simply referred to a group of Hong Kong investors.

  However, Tony South, director for hotels and leisure for joint agent Colliers Jardine, confirmed that it was a Ma family company and that speculation that the price was A$140 million (about HK$740 million) was ''not far off the mark''.

    He said the last Sydney hotel purchase by a Hong Kong buyer had been the sale of the Golden Gate Park Plaza to C.C. Lec for A$75 million 15 months ago, with the market since dominated by Singaporean and Indonesian interests.

    ''The lure of China in the recent past has been very strong and people in Hong Kong have seen China as an alternative investment to Australia,'' he said.

    The Sydney Hilton, which has been on the market since October last year, has 585 rooms and was refurbished at a cost of A$24 million in 1991 by Hilton Hotels of Australia, which holds a 17-year lease.

    Capital Centre, between Pitt and George Streets in central Sydney, includes a retail arcade known as the Royal Arcade, a car park and an office tower.

    Sunrise's lawyer, Roy Mellick of Baker and McKenzie, said the refurbishment of the Royal Arcade would start in six months, after which the office accommodation would be upgraded. No costing had yet been finalised.

    Mr Mellick, who refused to confirm that the Ma family was the purchaser, said Sunrise was not owned by Oriental Press Group, the owner of Hong Kong's best-selling Chinese-language newspaper, Oriental Daily News.

   However, he did not deny it was a Ma family company.

    ''The company is contemplating other purchases in Australia, but this is the first,'' he said.

    The Hilton has a complicated ownership history. It was bought in 1987 by Bond Corp for A$160 million and has now been sold by the receiver and manager of Iwak Pty, Horwath and Horwath, and the mortgagees, the State Bank of South Australia and the StateBank of New South Wales.

    Mr South said Sunrise had been interested in the property from the start, as had several other Asian investors, but that complex legalities meant the sale had been slow to process.

    He said many Hong Kong investors had been so focused on the ''hot'' markets of China and Vietnam that they had had no opportunity and perhaps no resources available for the Australian market.

    ''In Hong Kong the focus was elsewhere, so they did not do enough homework and research. Now they have come to the view that hotels represent some pretty special buying opportunities.''     But he said the length of the Australian recession and the continued weakness of its property market had disappointed some Asian investors.

    Hotels were dependent on international factors such as Australia's continued high tourist growth rather than domestic factors, and that made them an attractive investment.

    He said Colliers had not been asked to seek other hotel investments for Sunrise, but that the sale might stimulate interest in the hotel sector.

    ''It is bloody significant for someone to come into the marketplace and make this their first purchase,'' he said.



HK investor buys Sydney Hilton in $740m deal