Owner of Hong Kong’s priciest mansion completes US$530m purchase of Canary Wharf office

Cheung Kei Group, the property developer owned by the owner of Hong Kong’s most expensive mansion, has completed its £410 million (US$530 million) purchase of a landmark 12-story office building in London’s Canary Wharf, in the biggest real estate sale in the city’s key financial district since 2014.

After its acquisition, the tycoon Chen Hongtian will rename the 20 Canada Square building as Cheung Kei Centre, according to a statement.

The 556,000 square-foot (51,600 square meters) office building, mostly leased out to BP and Standard & Poor’s, was put up for sale through JLL in March, and was first reportedly to be sold to Chen at the end of June. Chen, who promised to pay up all the cash within a month of his purchase, bought the building from Canada’s Brookfield Property Partners, beating back rival bids by Sidra Capital of Saudi Arabia, and a venture between Hines and HSBC Alternative Investments.

Leases on the building could generate up to 5.35 per cent in rental yields for his Shenzhen-based company.

Chinese capital had been increasingly pouring offshore for assets and investments, in search of higher returns on concern the renminbi could lose its value at home.

“Most of these types of investment are funded offshore, so the purchase is not subject to China’s capital controls,” said Knight Frank’s head of China research David Ji.