Thailand-listed Country Group Development is eyeing opportunities in Hong Kong’s property market, following the overwhelming response in the city when its luxury residential development in Bangkok was launched here last year. “We are looking at a number of opportunities in Hong Kong,” said Country Group chief executive Ben Taechaubol. With a combined stake of 31.36 per cent, he and his father, Sadawut Taechaubo, are the biggest shareholders in the company. The market in Hong Kong is very competitive and Country Group has to adopt a sectoral development approach, said Ben Taechaubol, expressing interest in acquiring existing properties as well as land in the city. The Chao Phraya river: lifeblood of Bangkok, in pictures “But the idea is still in the early stages. Residential development will be our top priority if opportunities arise in the city,” he said. Last year, Country Group clocked up sales of 1 billion baht when it launched in Hong Kong two road shows for its Four Seasons Private Residences along the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok. The 355-unit Four Seasons Private Residences is part of the 32 billion baht integrated project Chao Phraya Estate. Apart from the 73-storey residential tower, it will includes two low-rise blocks – the 312-room Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok and the 101-room Capella Hotel Bangkok. The whole project is due to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018. Country Group sold 132 units in its two Hong Kong launches last year. Forty per cent of the buyers at the project came from overseas, mostly Hong Kong. Taechaubol said the Thai baht has lost about 10 per cent against the US dollar in the past year but that has had little impact on sales. “I think investors in super deluxe properties are not going to change their buying decision because of currency movements,” he said.
