US government sells Hong Kong mansions without disclosing winning buyer or price amid fraying China ties

The sale of 37 Shouson Hill Road is expected to close in late December, a consulate spokesperson says, declining to disclose the buyer or price

Property was put on the market in May shortly after China unveiled a proposal to impose a national security law on Hong Kong

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A aerial view of 37 Shouson Hill Road in Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong. The US government has accepted an offer for the six multi-storey mansions without disclosing the buyer or transaction price. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 8:53pm, 9 Sep 2020Updated: 10:57pm, 9 Sep 2020

The US government has parted with one of its biggest properties in the city under a shroud of secrecy amid worsening tensions between Beijing and Washington.

It sold the six multi-storey mansions on 37 Shouson Hill Road after taking time to pick the winning bid when the tender closed at the end of July. It declined to disclose the winning buyer or the price. Analysts have estimated the value of the plot at between HK$3.2 billion (US$413 million) and HK$3.5 billion.

“The US government has accepted an offer for the property,” a spokesperson for the US Consulate General in Hong Kong said in an email reply to the Post on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close on or about December 31, and part of the proceeds will be reinvested into its multiple properties in Hong Kong, it added.

CK Asset Holdings, Hong Kong’s second-largest developer controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing, the only major developer among several bidders for the property when the tender closed on July 31, was not the winner, sources familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post.

Most of the city’s biggest developers stayed away or declined to comment on the sale, citing sensitivity enveloping the fraying US-China relations. The city’s biggest developer Sun Hung Kai Properties did not buy the property, deputy managing director Victor Lui told the Post.

The exterior of 37 Shouson Hill Road. Photo: Edmond So

“The US-China tensions is the last thing investors want to deal with,” said Vincent Cheung, managing director at Vincorn Consulting and Appraisal, who valued the property at HK$3.5 billion. “It is no longer just a land sale, as the plot was put on sale by the consulate at a sensitive time.”