Hongkong Land will refocus its activities exclusively on investment properties in key Asian cities and will redirect capital out of its residential or build-to-sell division, it said on Tuesday.
Hongkong Land, which expects to raise proceeds worth $6 billion from divestments as part of the new strategy, said the new plan will leverage its established flagship prime mixed-use projects in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
The new strategy follows the appointment of Michael Smith, formerly regional CEO of Europe and USA for Mapletree Investments, as its chief executive on April 1 this year.
HongKong Land, part of conglomerate Jardine Matheson, owns and manages more than 850,000 square meters of prime office and luxury retail assets in cities including Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Jakarta, according to its website.
The company also said it aims to double underlying profit before interest, tax and dividends by 2035, while diversifying geographically and growing assets under management to $100 billion, including significant third-party capital.
It will also be open to selectively injecting assets into real estate investment trusts or REITs, it added.
It will seek to limit a single city’s contribution to its profit to not more than 40% and actively recycle up to $10 billion in capital by 2035 to drive growth and optimization, it said.
“Given the size and diversity of the group’s existing real estate portfolio, the new strategy is expected to take a number of years, with progress to be measured across three implementation phases,” Smith said in a statement.
Shares of the company have climbed 11.8% year-to-date, giving it a market capitalisation of $8.58 billion, LSEG data showed.
Reuters
