Canadian asset manager Brookfield looks past short-term row as it picks up US$1.5 billion Shanghai project, China’s second largest commercial property deal
- The Toronto-based asset manager agreed in April to pay 10.57 billion yuan US$1.54 billion for the Huangpu Centre on the South Bund of Shanghai
- The Huangpu Centre is a 320,000 square-metre development comprising three office towers, a shopping centre and luxury flats
Brookfield Asset Management, which traces its roots to a tram operator in Brazil at the turn of the 20th century, has its sights on the very long-term, a strategy that helped it seal the second-biggest commercial property acquisition in China by a foreign firm.
The Toronto-based asset manager agreed in April to pay 10.57 billion yuan US$1.54 billion for the Huangpu Centre on the South Bund of Shanghai, with the plan to rename it One East when constructions are completed this year.
“We are confident in China’s determination to support to growth of the middle class and welcome foreign capital and expertise,” the company’s Asia-Pacific chief executive officer Stewart Upson said in an interview with South China Morning Post. “Our long-term focus affords us the ability to see through short-term challenges and remain oriented towards long-term economic trends.”
The big picture focus has helped Brookfield, which counts US$2.5 billion of its US$300 billion in worldwide assets under management in China, look past one of the country’s worst patches with Canada. Relations between the two nations deteriorated after Canada’s government acceded to a request by the US Department of Justice to arrest Huawei Technologies’ Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou for extradition to the US to face charges of violating Iran sanctions.
