ExclusiveRecord HK$40.2 billion paid for The Center is ‘reasonable’, Hong Kong investor says
Largest shareholder in consortium is Beijing-based group which wants to be ‘rooted’ in city
It was “reasonable” for a consortium of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese buyers to pay a record HK$40.2 billion (US$5.15 billion) for The Center tower, the tallest building in tycoon Li Ka-shing’s property portfolio, according to one of the investors.
Speaking exclusively to the Post, Wing Li Group chairman Lo Man-tuen also revealed that the consortium’s largest shareholder, the China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group (CERCG), bought the building because it “wanted to be rooted” in the city.
Lo was speaking a day after it was confirmed that CK Asset Holdings chairman Li had sold The Center in what could be the world’s most expensive real estate transaction.
Li Ka-shing sells The Center in US$5.15 billion record deal to trim his flagship’s Hong Kong assets
The buyer of the 73-storey tower, Hong Kong’s fifth-tallest building, is identified as CHMT Peaceful Development Asia Property, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, according to the stock exchange filings of CK Asset Holdings.
The consortium’s largest shareholder is Beijing-based CERCG, with a 55 per cent stake, industry sources familiar with the transaction said.
The remaining 45 per cent is understood to be owned by a group of Hong Kong businessmen, including David Chan Ping-chi, known as the city’s “king of cassettes” and chairman of Acme Group; the family of Robert Ma Kiu-sang, head of Koon Wing Motors; and Lo, a delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation’s top political advisory body.
Asked on Thursday if it was he who helped to make the deal possible, Lo said: “Yes, I was one of the directors [of the consortium].”