Greenland buys site in Huangpu for 5.9 b yuan

Greenland Hong Kong, the listed arm of Shanghai-based Greenland Group, said yesterday it bought a commercial and residential site in Huangpu, Shanghai, for 5.95 billion yuan (HK$7.59 billion).

The amount is the second-highest paid for a site in the city this year, in terms of lump sum.

Acquired by TrueThrive Investment, a unit of Greenland Hong Kong, the 64,980-square metre site can provide a floor area of about 246,000 sq metres at an accommodation value of 24,236 yuan per square metre, according to the company.

"The site was acquired [yesterday morning] at the reserve price of 5.95 billion yuan," said a spokesman for Greenland Hong Kong.

The acquisition was in line with the company's strategy to increase its land bank on the mainland, the spokesman added.

Greenland Group obtained its listing in Hong Kong through a back-door process in August. It bought 60 per cent of the enlarged issued share capital of SPG Land, which was then renamed Greenland Hong Kong.

Early last month, Greenland Hong Kong announced in a statement to the stock exchange that it had paid its parent firm, Greenland Group, 952 million yuan for a 55 per cent stake in Greenland Real Estate, a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenland Group.

Greenland Real Estate has property projects in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Greenland Hong Kong also took over a shareholder loan to the company.

Last month, the chairman of Greenland Group, Zhang Yuliang, said the group would buy more land on the mainland including in Haikou, Hainan province.

The highest amount paid for land sold in Shanghai this year was Sun Hung Kai Properties' acquisition of a mixed-used site for 21.77 billion yuan in Xujiahui district in September.

Developers have been active in buying land this year.

According to research firm China Real Estate Information Corp, the total land sale value from the 1,112 sites in four first-tier cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - amounted to 472.04 billion yuan in the first 11 months of the year. This represented an increase of 181.72 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Trading in the shares of Greenland Hong Kong was suspended yesterday afternoon. The stock last traded 2.99 per cent lower at HK$3.90.