The group's mainland arm will decide whether to take on the investment
The board of Shui On Land will meet next week to decide whether to include an investment of 10 billion yuan in Chongqing in its portfolio, Shui On Group chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui said yesterday.
Mr Lo set up Shui On Land in February as a vehicle for his company's property developments on the mainland, which include the Xintiandi and Rainbow City projects in Shanghai and Xihu Tiandi in Hangzhou.
Shui On Group owns a majority of Shui On Land, with the other shareholders including Ergo Tru Asia, Metro Holdings, Standard Chartered Bank and Value Partner Funds.
'The investors have looked at it,' Mr Lo said. 'The board will decide in mid-July [whether to include it in its portfolio].'
The Chongqing investment, planned over 10 years, is Shui On's most risky. It involves a site of 130 hectares in Hualongqiao, on the south bank of the Jialing River in the middle of Chongqing, and clearance of 12,000 households and dozens of run-down state factories.
Mr Lo plans a man-made lake, a commercial core with an exhibition centre, luxury hotels, upmarket office buildings and entertainment facilities and hillside villas overlooking the river. It includes a 398-metre-high skyscraper that will be the tallest structure in western China.