Chinese tycoon’s HK$7 billion Hong Kong tower put on sale by creditors

A COMMERCIAL property formerly owned by a Chinese tycoon has been put up for sale by the creditor as a liquidity crunch among mainland real estate entrepreneurs continues.

The receiver of the Cheung Kei Center, formerly owned by Chen Hongtian, chairman of Hong Kong-based investment firm Cheung Kei Group, has appointed property agency Savills to sell the asset in a tender.

The property, comprising an office building and a two-storey retail villa, was valued at about HK$7 billion (S$1.18 billion) last year, according to Savills. The tender will close on Aug 28.

Hong Kong has seen a rise in properties of Chinese developers going on the market in recent months. Shimao Group Holdings’s hotel near the airport has been on sale since late March. China Evergrande Group’s seized headquarters in Hong Kong has yet to find a buyer since the first tender began last year.

Apart from the commercial property, Chen has also lost ownership of a mansion and a luxury apartment in the city to lenders, Bloomberg News reported in March.

The tender came days after the Chinese tycoon told South China Morning Post that his company had the ability to handle its “short-term liquidity issues” and was in discussions with lenders to regain control of the three assets.

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Chen founded Cheung Kei Group by combining businesses he owned in Hong Kong and Shenzhen in 1990 when China was pushing for market economy reform. The company pivoted to real estate development and financial investments after an early success in textiles. Before the seizures, he had owned 10 office towers and hotels across the world, according to the group’s website. BLOOMBERG