Swire Properties to buy China’s top shopping centre in Chengdu for US$796 million from partner amid reopening drive
- Swire Properties sees the Taikoo Li Chengdu mall as a key asset in its China expansion strategy
- Beijing has unleashed a series of measures to support the property market while rolling back its stringent zero-Covid regimen
Swire Properties has agreed to buy the remaining stake in one of its most successful shopping centres in mainland China, allowing the firm to strengthen its local market presence while helping its joint-venture partner raise cash to repay debt.
The Hong Kong-based developer will buy the stake in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, a retail development in southwestern Sichuan province, for 5.55 billion yuan (US$796.2 million), according to an exchange filing late on Thursday. The price tag includes a half-stake in a separate entity managing the asset.
The shopping centre was jointly launched by Swire Properties and the Sino-Ocean group in 2015, and became one of the most popular tourism destinations. Retail sales grew fivefold through 2021, the company said in the statement. The property is undergoing a “strategic upgrade” with respect to the mix of the luxury brands operators, it added.
The acquisition will contribute immediate income and create long-term value for shareholders, the firm added. The transaction will be completed over three phases, with the first expected to take place after signing of the agreement and the final phase by April next year.
The flagship Chengdu project represents a very important part of its growth strategy, underscoring its confidence and commitment to the mainland economy, said Tim Blackburn, CEO of Swire Properties. The group will invest HK$100 billion in its core market as part of its 10-year plan and has allocated HK$50 billion to expand in China.
For Sino-Ocean, the transaction comes as a huge relief given its debt burden. Fitch Ratings last month kept its negative watch on the firm while affirming its junk rating. Sino-Ocean has 8 billion yuan of domestic capital-market debt coming due by the end of next year, the rating company estimated.
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According to mainland Chinese media reports in July, the state-backed developer was in discussions to sell its stake in the Chengdu shopping centre to China Life Insurance, its largest shareholder, in a sign of liquidity pressure amid a slump in the nation’s property market.
Some 39 defaulted developers are still in the midst of restructuring their debtload with creditors, involving almost US$117 billion of bonds, JPMorgan Chase estimated, including US$56.4 billion in 2022 alone. They included serial borrowers like Guangzhou R&F Properties, Zhenro Properties, Sunac, E-House and Shimao Property.
Since mid-November, however, Beijing has issued several guidelines to rescue some of the nation’s developers by easing their liquidity crunch, including asking commercial banks to extend credit lines, providing bond-guarantees and lifting a six-year ban on equity financing.
The Sino-Ocean group, which will make a net gain of 1.39 billion yuan from the sale, said it intends to use the sale proceeds from Swire Properties to repay existing debt, according to its exchange filing.
