Mayer Brown JSM advised Swire Properties in an agreement to sell 10 office floors on the High Zone, the commercial area and the car-parking spaces of Cityplaza Three and the entirety of Cityplaza Four (“the property”) in Taikoo Shing on the Hong Kong Island through the sale of the entire equity interest in a property holding entity (“the entity”). It is the second highest commercial real estate acquisition by Mainland Chinese buyers in recent years.

The property was sold to Henglilong Investment Limited, a BVI-registered private investment holding company. The disposal will enable Swire Properties to realise cash proceeds which would support Swire Properties’ redevelopment projects in the nearby area as well as a new project in Shanghai.

The transaction involves a complex restructuring of the entity since the entity was the developer of the entire Taikoo Shing and owned many other properties. It was not a company that can be sold. We managed to facilitate the deal in a cost-efficient manner within a very short time frame. The sale and purchase agreement was signed in mid-June and the transaction is expected to complete by April 2019. This significant deal demonstrates Mayer Brown JSM’s continued success in representing real estate clients in Hong Kong. The team was led by real estate partner Robert Lynn, Counsel Mabel Leung, Senior Associates Winnie Li and Wayne Cheng, and was supported by real estate partner FK Au, Senior Associate Cheryl Law, Associates Tiffany Wong and Tiffany Tam.

Completed in 1992, Cityplaza Three is a 21-storey building at 14 Taikoo Wan Road, with a gross floor area of around 448,000 square feet (42,000 square metres). The adjacent, virtually identical Cityplaza Four, built one year earlier, offers 556,000 square feet of space.