Hong Kong property firms pick up assets on the cheap from stricken mainland Chinese developers

A joint venture between Far East Consortium and New World snapped up land at Kai Tak from Kaisa Group for just over US$1 billion

Sharpview Investment recently took a majority stake in a project at Mid-Levels from China Aoyuan Group for HK$900 million

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Construction is under way on several residential projects in Kai Tak, the site of Hong Kong’s former airport. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 12:18pm, 30 Nov 2021

Mid-sized Hong Kong property firms are picking up residential plots at heavily discounted prices from cash-strapped mainland Chinese developers who are speeding up asset sales to repay debt.

Far East Consortium International recently snapped up two land parcels, one of which was from the heavily indebted Kaisa Group Holdings.

“We may allocate more resources to increase our land bank in Hong Kong after we cashed in on our overseas property investments,” Chris Hoong Cheong Thard, managing director of Far East Consortium.

Since 2015 the developer has diversified its property investments in various markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Britain, maximising its investment opportunities by taking advantage of different property cycles.

Chris Hoong Cheong Thard, manager director of Far East Consortium International, pictured in September 2015. Photo: Franke Tsang

Highly indebted Chinese developers, from China Evergrande Group to Kaisa, have been trying to buy time with partial repayments and debt restructurings in recent months as they have faced a liquidity crunch after Beijing instituted new rules design to stem speculative bubbles in the residential property sector

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