CK Asset Holdings said it expected a gain of about £108 million from the sale of 5 Broadgate. Photo: Bloomberg
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https://scmp.com/business/article/3170206/ck-asset-sells-london-office-block-south-korean-pension-fund-us16-billion Business
CK Asset sells London office block to South Korean pension fund for US$1.6 billion
- CK Asset Holdings had acquired 5 Broadgate for £1 billion in June 2018
- It was the first major acquisition by Victor Li after taking over the company from his father Li Ka-shing
CK Asset on Friday said that it had sold the 5 Broadgate office building next to Liverpool Street railway station in London. Photo: Handout
CK Asset Holdings has sold a prime London office tower for £1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) less than four years after acquiring it, the flagship company of Hong Kong’s wealthiest tycoon Li Ka-shing said on Friday.
5 Broadgate, the London headquarters of Swiss investment bank UBS group, was bought by CK Asset in June 2018 for £1 billion, with proceeds from the sale of The Center office tower in Hong Kong.
CK Asset said it expected a gain of about £108 million from the sale, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The company, in a separate statement, said the return on investment was 45 per cent, amounting to about HK$4.8 billion (US$614 million), as this took into account “rental income throughout the holding period, appreciation of the property value over the original cost and hedging profits relating to this investment”.
South Korea’s National Pension Service is the tower’s buyer.
With the disposal of the property, CK Asset “will continue to look for new investment opportunities in different markets around the world, including Hong Kong and mainland [China],” said Gerald Ma, a member of the company’s executive committee who led the transaction.
“The whole world is our potential market,” he added.
The disposal of the property comes on the heels of regulatory approval last week for CK Hutchison Holdings’ €3.7 billion sale of its mobile tower assets in the United Kingdom to Spanish mobile telephone infrastructure operator Cellnex Telecom.
CK Hutchison is the other flagship company controlled by the Li family and is chaired by Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, Li’s son.
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The purchase of 5 Broadgate was one of the major acquisitions made by Victor Li in 2018 after taking over the helm of the CK Group from his father.
CK Asset acquired the then three-year-old building close to Liverpool Street railway station with a total gross area of 1.2 million square feet using the proceeds from the sale of The Center, which was sold to a consortium of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong investors for HK$40.2 billion, making it the world’s single priciest real estate transaction.
CK Asset’s shares closed about 1 per cent higher at HK$51.6 on Friday before the deal was announced.