SOHO China spends RMB 4 bln on land in Beijing

Sep. 4, 2009 (China Knowledge) - SOHO China Ltd<0410> has won the bid for a piece of land in Chaoyang District, Beijing for RMB 4 billion, a price 164.3% higher than the starting price of RMB 1.51 billion, said Chairman Pan Shiyi yesterday, sources reported.

The Hong Kong-listed enterprise purchased the parcel, which has a potential floor area of nearly 500,000 square meters, for RMB 10,197 per sq m of potential floor area. On the site, the real estate developer intends to start a commercial property project. It plans to begin the project in the second half of this year and complete it in 2011. The project will consist of stores and less than 50,000 sq m of office space.

SOHO China, whose operations are mainly in Beijing, spent RMB 2.45 billion to acquire a 52-story office building in Jing'an District, Shanghai from Morgan Stanley, China Knowledge reported earlier.

At the Reuters China Investment Summit, Chairman Pan Shiyi said that the firm currently has no plans to raise funds, because the firm has strong sales and was granted RMB 20 billion in credit from Bank of China<601988><3988> and China Merchants Bank<600036><3968> earlier this year.

SOHO China had realized more than RMB 7 billion in sales revenue as of Aug. 25, 2009. Since revenue exceeded the annual target for 2009, the firm has set a new target, Pan added without elaborating.