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. In retaliation, China’s government arrested three Canadian citizens , including two on national security grounds, and put shipments of Canadian canola on hold . China, the world’s biggest consumer of pork, also halted imports from three Canadian companies even as the nation’s supplies were decimated by an outbreak of African swine fever. The US-China trade tensions have been weighing on multinational businesses as some of the companies considered relocations of their manufacturing facilities owing to the punitive tariffs slapped by the US administration on Chinese-made goods. Last weekend, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed in Osaka to restart trade talks with Washington not imposing new levies on US$300 billion of Chinese goods. Foreign investors emerged to be active asset buyers in the mainland’s commercial property sector over the past two years as they set aside concerns about geopolitical risks that could erode attractiveness and potential returns amid the country’s slowing economy. In 2018, foreign investment in China’s commercial properties were valued at 82.4 billion yuan, nearly double the figure of 42.8 billion yuan a year earlier, according to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. They became the beneficiaries of Beijing’s deleveraging campaign as local developers and investors refrained from acquiring assets as banks tightened credit extensions. “Long-term foreign funds remain bullish on the Chinese market given the relatively higher return rates here,” said Alvin Yip, head of Cushman & Wakefield's capital markets for Greater China. “The trade war has a limited impact on their global asset allocation strategies.” Brookfield’s portfolio of worldwide commercial real estate cover 13 million square metres (140 million square feet), including Canary Wharf, Brookfield Place New York, Poottsdamer Plaza and Manhattan West. The Huangpu Centre, which was originally developed by Chinese state-owned company Greenland Hong Kong Holdings, is a 320,000 square-metre development comprising three office towers, a shopping centre and luxury flats just 4 kilometres from the hear of the city’s centre at People’s Square. Annualised investment return from an ideal property in top-tier Chinese cities such as Shanghai – which aims to transform itself into a global financial centre by 2020 – could hit 10 to 12 per cent, including appreciation of the asset and yield based on rent income. The return rate could not be matched by properties elsewhere in the world, according to Yip. Brookfield will focus on commercial projects in China’s gateway cities such as Shanghai, logistics businesses nationwide, infrastructure works and renewable energy assets that support sustainability-oriented policy goals in China, Upson said. “In Shanghai, the demand for high-quality office space to serve the needs of discerning employers and employees will continue to grow,” he said. “Shanghai remains undersupplied relative to its global peers.”