Singaporeans sell Hyde Park, Sydney office to Hui Wing Mau's Shimao Property
Shimao Property, controlled by billionaire Hui Wing Mau, has bought 175 Liverpool Street in Sydney’s CBD.
It sold through JLL for around $390 million by the Singapore’s GIC Real Estate that paid $230 million in 2005.
The newly refurbished A-Grade office building totalling 48,890 square metres of NLA is occupied by Telstra, state and federal government tenants.
GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, owns about $4 billion worth of real estate in Australia, including Sydney's Chifley Tower and Queen Victoria Building.
The Chinese-born Hui Wing Mau is a BRW Rich Lister and was ranked by Forbes as China’s 12th richest person, worth around $6.35 billion.
He is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Shimao Holdings, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, holds 112 developing projects in 42 cities.
Its holdings include hotel projects such as the $548 million InterContinental Shimao Hotel in Shanghai.
Following the completion of InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland (Groundscraper Hotel) in Shanghai, a hotel situated at the lowest altitude in the world, Shimao Property announced its “Hotel on the Cliff” project in Jiangyin.
The group generates its turnover primarily from property development, property investment and hotel operations.
As at 30 June 2014, turnover of the group reached RMB 23.68 billion (A$4.4 billion), grew by 42.0% when compared to RMB 16.68 billion (A$3,14 billion) for the corresponding period in 2013.
During the period, revenue from property sales amounted to RMB 22.61 billion, accounting for 95.5% of the total revenue and representing an increase of 44.1% over the corresponding period in 2013.
The average recognised selling price increased by 4.2% to RMB 11,518 (A$2,166) per square metre in the first half of 2014, from RMB 11,059 (A$2,080) per square metre for the corresponding period in 2013.
Notwithstanding the Chinese residential market remains sluggish in the first half of the year, the group posted contracted sales of RMB 8.07 (A$1.51 billion) billion in June, which was a record high for monthly sales since the inception of Shimao Property.
It was also the fourth month in which the group had registered consecutive sales growth, after it had posted monthly sales of more than RMB 6 billion (A$1.13) from March to May inclusive.
Building on its strategic positioning, established in 2013, as a “Pioneer in Urban Evolution” and a “Lifestyle Service Provider”, Shimao Property launched branding campaigns across the country this year.