Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset swoops on UK developer CapCo’s troubled London luxury housing project

Capital & Counties Properties’ Earls Court project is valued at about £707 million following a series of write-downs over the past three years

The 77-acre site is split into a series of parcels, some of which are owned jointly with other investors

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The 77-acre Earls Court site in London is split into a series of parcels. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:13pm, 6 Nov 2018Updated: 5:22pm, 6 Nov 2018

CK Asset Holdings is in preliminary talks to buy most of Capital & Counties Properties’ Earls Court project, a sign of investors’ faith in the long-term prospects of London’s luxury-housing market.

The Hong Kong company founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing wants to buy about 90 per cent of the West London site, CapCo said on Monday, confirming a Bloomberg report.

CapCo has received several proposals for the project and will evaluate them against the benefits of spinning the division off.

An artist’s impression of the proposed Exhibition Square to be developed at the Earls Court project in London. Photo: CapCo

Capital & Counties rose 7.2 per cent, the most since November 2016 in London trading on Monday.

CapCo’s Lillie Square venture is not part of the proposal, the company said in a statement.

“Property is a core business of the group. We study all projects with good potential and evaluate each one of them prudently, with the aim of generating reasonable returns for shareholders,” the company said in a written reply to the Post, neither confirming or denying its involvement in the project.