Source:
https://scmp.com/article/577383/shenzhen-investment-trim-holding-road-firm

Shenzhen Investment to trim holding in road firm

Shenzhen Investment plans to sell a 49 per cent stake in its toll-road unit to Ping An Insurance for 618 million yuan as the company further strengthens its property focus.

The investment arm of the Shenzhen government yesterday said it will sell the stake in Hubei Shumyip Huayin Traffic, which runs the 63km Jingdong Expressway in Hubei, to China Ping An Trust & Investment, the trust arm of the insurer.

Shenzhen Investment, which is keeping a 51 per cent stake in Huayin Traffic, said it plans to use the proceeds for property investments.

The red chip has been divesting HK$1.23 billion worth of non-core assets, including Mawan Power and its colour display device and cable television businesses, over the past few months to increase spending on property projects.

The company yesterday said it completed the HK$1.16 billion purchase of three sites in Shenzhen and Wuhan this month.

It paid HK$550 million for a 285,000 square metre industrial site in Longgang district, Shenzhen, which it plans to convert into a residential and commercial complex with a gross floor area of 655,500 square metres.

Also in Shenzhen, the company secured a 28,000 square metre site, which carries a plot ratio of three times, for 150 million yuan.

It also acquired a 200,000 square metre site in Yezhihu Lake, Wuhan, for HK$459 million, which it will develop into a residential project with a gross floor area of 440,000 square metres.

Over the past year, Shenzhen Investment has increased its land reserves by about two million square metres in gross floor area. It plans to boost its land bank by at least two million square metres in the next two years.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen Investment said it would transform its 80 per cent-owned transport unit, Shenkong Industrial (Group), into a bus terminal-related property developer.

Shenkong will develop its 36 per cent-owned Wu Ai Long-Distance Bus Terminal in Shenyang into a 200,000 square metre logistics-related property project.

It will also turn a bus terminal in Jiangxi province into a 51,000 square metre commercial property project for regional merchants and traders.