Mingtiandi

Asia real estate and outbound investment news

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Remember Me

Lost your password?

Register Now

Loading...
  • Capital Markets
  • Events
    • Mingtiandi 2025 Event Calendar
    • Mingtiandi APAC Residential Forum 2025
    • Mingtiandi Singapore Forum 2025
    • Mingtiandi APAC Logistics Forum 2025
    • Mingtiandi APAC Data Centre Forum 2025
    • Mingtiandi Tokyo Forum 2025
    • More Events
  • MTD TV
    • Residential
    • Logistics
    • Data Centre
    • Office
    • Singapore
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • All Videos
    • Post-Event Stories
  • People
    • Industry Moves
    • MTD TV Speakers
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail
  • Research & Policy
  • Advertise

AEW JV Buys Beijing Office Tower From Hopson for RMB 4.5B — Exclusive

2018/12/14 by Jan Kot Leave a Comment

hopson plaza Beijing

AEW teamed up with Hony for its Beijing buy

A joint venture led by real estate investment manager AEW has purchased a 21-storey office tower in Beijing for a total compensation of RMB 4.5 billion ($654 million), according to sources familiar with the transaction who spoke with Mingtiandi.

AEW joined with Beijing-based private equity investor Hony Capital to purchase the north tower in the Beijing Oriental Culture and Art Center in Dongcheng district from Hong Kong-listed Hopson Development, which announced the sale of the 53,119 square metre asset to the stock exchange on November 30th.

The deal gives AEW and Hony control over a 12-year-old asset just west of the eastern section of the capital’s Second Ring Road, just a 10-minute walk south of the Dongsishitiao station on Beijing’s metro line two.

AEW and Hony Find Value in Central Beijing

AEW and Hony, which is a unit of Beijing’s Legend Holdings, formed an 85/15 joint venture to acquire the property, with Hopson Development disposing of the 2006-vintage tower through the sale of equity in a pair of subsidiaries in return for cash compensation of RMB 1.95 billion.

The price for the asset, which together with a second office tower and a concert hall, forms the Beijing Oriental Culture and Art Center, represented a discount of approximately 3.89 percent, or RMB 7.9 million, compared to a recent valuation of the asset, according to Hopson’s filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Sources close to the matter told Mingtiandi that in addition to the cash compensation, AEW took over responsibility for debts of approximately RMB 2.55 billion associated with the property, bringing total compensation on the deal to a total of RMB 4.5 billion and valuing the office asset at the equivalent of RMB 81,000 per square metre.

The deal, which was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, represents AEW’s first Beijing acquisition for its third Asia Pacific value-added fund, which the private equity firm closed in June with a total commitment of $1.12 billion.

Hopson’s two subsidiaries, Favor Easy Limited and Favor Mega Limited, collectively had owned 97 percent of the asset on 9 Chaoyang North Road. A third owner will also be disposing of its 1.9 percent stake in the same transaction, while Beijing Dongfangwenhua Assets Operation Company will continue to hold a 1.1 percent stake.

AEW Bets on Central Beijing Location

Citywide, Beijing’s grade A office market had a vacancy rate of under eight percent at the end of the third quarter of this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield research, with rents averaging RMB 403 per square metre per month.

David Schaefer

Head of Asia for AEW, David Schaefer

While the East Second Ring Road area where AEW’s new asset is located had average rents of RMB 369.6 per square metre per month, the submarket’s vacancy rate was well below the city average at just 6.2 percent according to the brokerage’s analysts.

AEW is said to see opportunities to add value to its new office tower by upgrading common areas of the property and making other improvements to enhance its investment yield.

The company, which along with its affiliates manages over $73 billion in property and securities across North America, Europe and Asia, has said that its Value Investors Asia III fund, which has already assembled a portfolio of assets in Seoul and Sydney, seeks to create value by repositioning, refurbishing and re-leasing commercial real estate.

Prior to this latest deal, the private equity giant was reported to have bagged the Innov Tower, a fully leased office building in Shanghai’s Caohejing High-Tech Park from CapitaLand for $226 million in June 2017.

Hopson Makes Second Attempt to Sell Off Beijing Project

For Hopson, this most recent deal is its second attempt at selling the property in just over a year.

In at the end of September 2017, Hopson announced to the Hong Kong exchange that it had agreed to sell the asset for RMB 1.84 billion in cash compensation. However, that deal eventually fell apart, with Hopson announcing to the exchange on January 12th that it failed to reach agreement with the purchaser regarding whether initial steps in the agreement had been fulfilled according to the terms, and that the transaction had been terminated.

In its November 30th statement, the Beijing-based developer clarified that it saw the disposal under the current terms as “an appropriate opportunity to dispose the asset at a reasonable price and that the proceeds can provide funds for the group to capture future investment opportunities and/or as working capital.”

Beijing Commercial Market Heats Up

AEW’s acquisition was sealed just one week before Gaw Capital Partners confirmed that it had sold the Pacific Century Place project in Beijing for approximately RMB 10.5 billion ($1.53 billion) to a fund affiliated with mainland real estate agency Lianjia.

The reported selling price for that asset represented a mark-up of around $548 million over what the private equity firm had paid for the complex in Beijing’s Sanlituan area when it acquired the property on behalf of its Gaw Capital Real Estate Fund IV for $928 million in April of 2014.

Share this now

  • LinkedIn
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

Filed Under: Finance Tagged With: AEW, Beijing, cm-ml, daily-sp, Featured, highlight, Hony Capital, Hopson Development

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Mingtiandi Delivered

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

MTD TV

Adam Vaggelas, Partner, GreenFort Capital
GreenFort, Gaw Explore Institutional Opportunities in Australia Land Lease: MTD TV
Bain Capital Finds Structured Financing Opportunities in China, Japan Real Estate

More MTD TV Videos>>

People in the News

singh-anshuman
Asia Real Estate People in the News 2025-06-16
Raymond Lee Paul Hastings
Law Partner Picks Up Hong Kong Home of Former Birmingham City Boss for $37M
Teo Chee Hean Temasek
Asia Real Estate People in the News 2025-06-09
Lincoln Pan Jardines
Asia Real Estate People in the News 2025-06-02

More Industry Professionals>>

Latest Stories

South City Mall in Kolkata
Blackstone Buys Kolkata Mall From Developer South City for $377M
Duke Lee, Head of Investment & AM, Pebblestone
APG, Pebblestone, Invesco See Korean Sheds Overcoming Trade War: MTD TV
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman
Amazon to Invest $13B in Aussie Data Centres and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Sponsored Features

How to Create a Win-Win for Investors and Occupiers
Lingeage Logistics Cold Storage Complex
Mount Maunganui Cold Storage Facility for Sale
7 in 10 Senior Directors Confident in Data Centres, but Talent Shortage Will Widen

More Sponsored Features>>

Connect with Mingtiandi

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Real Estate News

  • Capital Markets
  • Mingtiandi 2025 Event Calendar
  • MTD TV Archives
  • People
  • Logistics
  • Data Centres
  • Asia Outbound
  • Retail

More Mingtiandi

  • About Mingtiandi
  • Contact Mingtiandi
  • Mingtiandi Memberships
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • Advertise
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Join the Mingtiandi Team


© 2007-2025 China Advertising Media Ltd (Samoa). All rights reserved.

We use cookies in accordance with our Privacy policy to provide the best user experience on Mingtiandi and to safeguard user data. By continuing to browse you consent to the policy. AcceptRefuse