Banyan Tree moves into the luxury-home market in China

Banyan Tree Holdings, which develops and operates luxury resorts, hotels, and spas throughout Asia, is making a foray into the residential market with its first development in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

Eddy See, senior vice-president and chief financial officer of the Singapore-listed hospitality group, said the maiden project would be developed on a 333,350 square metre site in the city's suburbs, some 45 minutes from downtown Chengdu.

The project would comprise luxury homes and affordable condominiums and would be developed in phases, he said. See said the group's expansion into the residential market was natural, taking into account the company's niche in building holiday homes.

Founded by former journalist Ho Kwon Ping, the group was named after Banyan Tree Bay (or Yung Shue Wan), a village on Hong Kong's Lamma Island, where Ho stayed for few years in his youth.

It opened its first resort hotel in Phuket in 1994, and at the end of March this year had equity interest in 15 resorts or hotels operating under the Banyan Tree and Angsana brands and managed another 15 resorts or hotels in which it does not have an equity interest.

In China the group manages hotels in Hangzhou, Sanya, and Macau. It also holds equity interests in a hotel and holiday homes in Lijiang, in Yunnan province. See said the market in China, with its vast and growing economy, had been identified by the group as a key one into which it planned to expand.