Expect Fosun’s Guo Guangchang to make some new European acquisitions soon
Fosun Property Holdings, the real estate arm of China’s biggest private investment firm, signalled its interest in acquiring more assets in Europe today by announcing a new joint venture with UK-based Resolution Property.
The joint venture company is to be named Resolution Property Investment Management (RPIM) and will be majority controlled by Fosun. According to a statement by the Shanghai-based company, RPIM will act as its exclusive investment manager for pursuing value-added real estate deals across Europe.
Fosun is already one of China’s most active cross-border investors in the property sector, and this is the second time that it has set up an overseas property investment platform, after acquiring Japan’s IDERA Capital Management last year.
Looking for Value-Add Opportunities
In a statement, Fosun said that the new joint venture will continue Resolution’s approach of looking for opportunistic investments across Europe where it can add value to the assets. To date, 17-year-old Resolution has acquired office, residential and retail properties in London and other cities in the UK, as well as in Denmark, Switzerland, France, Germany and Poland.
The 82,000 sqm Waterfront Shopping Centre in Bremen, Germany is part of Resolution’s existing portfolio
“It is a great pleasure to partner with Resolution Property to establish Fosun’s European Investment & Management platform,” said Xu Xiaoliang, vice-president of Fosun Group & President of Fosun Property. He added that, “After acquiring the Japanese IDERA Capital in 2014, we have focused on finding experienced and professional overseas investment & management platforms as our priority.
According to it’s website, Resolution has acquired, developed, financed and disposed of over €2.6 billion of assets and has managed 1.86 million square metres of property in the office, retail, residential and mixed-use sectors.
Fosun also has some experience in Europe, having purchased the Lloyd’s Chambers building in London for £64.5 million ($100.6 million) in 2013. Just one month later, the company controlled by billionaire Guo Guangchang bought One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York for $725 million in what remains one of the highest profile Chinese real estate acquisitions to date.
The two companies will be working together through RPIM to launch a new fund, Resolution Real Estate Fund V later this year. In the statement, the companies said that RPIM will be targeting investments in large assets and portfolios for their next acquisitions.
Expect More Fosun Deals Soon
By forming the new joint venture, Fosun is serving notice that it intends to accelerate the pace of its real estate investments, and that Europe is now a primary target.
Since acquiring IDERA in Japan last year, the Chinese conglomerate has acquired two office towers in Tokyo, although financial terms of the deals have not yet been disclosed. Also in January this year Fosun acquired an office property in Sydney, Australia for $93 million.
Some of the company’s biggest moves in the last twelve months seem to centre around Europe, however, including the €939 million takeover of Club Med last year, the buyout of Portuguese insurer Caixa Seguros e Saude for $1.36 billion, and the acquisition of a stakes in travel company Thomas Cooke earlier this year.
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