Hong Kong Family Buys Prestigious Office Development In UK's Canary Wharf

Tom Burroughes

2 October 2014

A prominent Hong Kong family has agreed a £153.2 million ($247.9 million) deal to buy a large office block in London’s Canary Wharf business district, highlighting continued Asian interest in London properties.

Songbird Estates has agreed to sell one of its buildings, 50 Bank Street. The buyer is Crosby Investment Holdings, which is wholly owned by Vivien Chen, who has run the Nan Fung group, a diversified Hong Kong conglomerate, since 2009. Both the Nan Fung group and Chen’s family office have previously invested in the City of London real estate market, according to the Financial Times.

In a statement issued by Songbird's main operating subsidiary, Canary Wharf Group, it said: "It is intended that the sale proceeds will be used to help fund future investments in the Group, incorporating development projects on which CWG is currently embarking."

The statement did not disclose the identity of the buyers.

Marketing for the sale of 50 Bank Street began at the start of the year with the process intensifying over the summer. All but one of the 11 storeys of office space at 50 Bank Street are rented to Northern Trust, the US financial services company, until 2022. Its tenancy will be unaffected by the sale.

Mainland China and Hong Kong have been sources of strong buying into the UK property market, particularly in the prime residential and high-end offices sectors.