Within three months of selling a 49 per cent stake in six of its mainland malls, China retail developer Joy City has bought a Shanghai shopping centre from UK property group Grosvenor.
State-owned Joy City paid RMB1.4 billion (US$202 million) to buy the Parkside Plaza mall in Shanghai’s Putuo district from the Grosvenor Vega China Retail Fund, according to a Hong Kong Stock Exchange release. The fund is a specialty vehicle managed by the company belonging to Britain’s Duke of Westminster.
Parkside Plaza, a 126,000 sqm shopping complex, welcomed China’s first Legoland Discovery Center this year, and other tenants include Tesco and Uniqlo.
In August, Joy City, the real-estate development subsidiary of state-owned food conglomerate Cofco, sold a 49 per cent stake in six mixed-use projects across China to an investment fund controlled by Singapore’s GIC and China Life for RMB 9.29 billion.
Parkside Plaza was the Grosvenor Vega China Retail Fund’s first acquisition. It paid RMB1.7 billion for the complex in 2010, when it was known as The North and had yet to open.
Repositioned as a family entertainment destination, the development launched in December 2011.
The UK firm sees the asset disposal as a way to redeploy capital into new projects, particularly in the Shanghai area. The deal was Grosvenor’s second major transaction with a mainland firm within 30 days – it sold a couple of malls in France to China Investment Corporation for €188 million (US$206 million).