Focus back on property development after seven years of debt reduction
After years of debt trimming, property development is moving back to the top of Lai Sun Group's agenda, with the company planning to spend as much as $550 million next year to boost its land banks in Hong Kong and the mainland.
The group's China property investment arm, Lai Fung Holdings, will spend from $300 million to $400 million on new sites, while increasing the pace of development to as much as 300,000 square metres a year, from 90,000 sq metres.
In Hong Kong, its flagship Lai Sun Development will invest $100 million to $150 million on sites and properties with redevelopment potential. It will also look for development opportunities in the property portfolio of the Lam family, the group's major shareholder.
'We haven't replenished our land bank in Hong Kong for years while our development strategy had been conservative,' Lai Sun Development chief executive Julius Lau Shu-yan said after the group's annual general meeting yesterday. 'But we will be aggressive next year.'
The Hong Kong portfolio comprises mainly investment properties including Causeway Bay Plaza 2 and the Ritz-Carlton hotel, both held by Lai Sun Development.