On Nov 1, CDL and its Chinese partner Lianfa Group won the tender for a 27,994 sqm, mixed-use development site in the Xintiandi area in Shanghai’s Huangpu district for RMB8.94 billion ($1.66 billion). The site was awarded following a government land tender that closed on Oct 28. CDL has a 51% stake in the joint venture.
Including a 51% stake in a Xintiandi site, local developer City Developments will have spent just about $2 billion on acquisitions this year-to-date. This is a far cry from the $1 billion in divestments that group CEO Sherman Kwek articulated in February. The planned divestments are part of an effort to pare debt and lower gearing.
Instead, in a presentation in 1HFY2024, for the six months to June 30, CDL announced it had spent $1.1 billion on acquisitions. In May, it announced it had acquired the “Paris Hilton”, officially known as the Hilton Paris Opéra Hotel for the equivalent of $350 million; in April, CDL and partner Mitsui-Fudosan were awarded a site on Zion Road for $1.1 billion. CDL also acquired rental housing properties in Tokyo and a private rental sector property in the UK.
