Nordevo Investments to sell stake in Beijing mall

Nordevo Investments, which is 50 per cent held by a subsidiary of Metro Holdings, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell its entire stake in China East Investment (CEI).

CEI's wholly owned subsidiary, ECM Property Holdings (Tianjin) Co, owns the retail mall property, EC Mall, in Beijing.

Nordevo is a 50 per cent jointly controlled entity of Crown Investments, which is wholly-owned by Metro China Holdings.

In a release to the Singapore Exchange, Metro said the sale was to "an independent and unrelated party" for about US$179.5 million and payment of a shareholders loan of approximately US$123.2 million. Metro's fifty per cent share for the sale of its stake in CEI is approximately US$89.7 million.

Located in the Zhongguancun District, the property is a 6-storey, 4-basement retail mall with 29,027 square metres of net lettable area. As at 31 Dec 2014, the retail mall was 99.5 per cent occupied.

"The property is considered matured, having effectively attained full occupancy with stable rental income. It is therefore considered an appropriate time to divest CEI," Metro said.