Singapore developer to double China spend

sgSingapore developer to double China spend

GUOCOLAND Ltd, a Singapore-based developer controlled by Malaysian billionaire Quek Leng Chan, may double its investment in China this year to US$5.4 billion to tap growing demand for new homes.

Unit GuocoLand China Ltd is in talks that which may be completed in as soon as six months about several projects in Tianjin, Beijing and Shanghai, Violet Lee, managing director of GuocoLand China, said in Beijing on Friday.

Singapore developers including CapitaLand Ltd have expanded in China as construction increases amid rapid growth in the nation's urban population. China posted economic growth of 10.7 percent last year.

"I'm not building enough to meet China's demand," Lee said. "With this rate of urbanization, there'll always be this continuous demand for housing."

Guocoland China also plans to expand into the management of properties and real estate investment trusts by 2010, Lee said. The company has two million square meters of property reserves in China, she said.

"The market is just enormous," Lee said. "The appetite is there, the need is there."

Parent GuocoLand agreed to purchase a 90 percent stake in Beijing Cheng Jian Dong Hua Real Estate Development Co for 5.8 billion yuan (US$750 million), the company said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange on Friday.

Beijing Cheng Jian owns the development and land use rights to the Dongzhimen site, a 106,000 square meter parcel in central Beijing, the statement said. The property will be developed into a retail, hotel, office and residential complex with up to 600,000 square meters, Bloomberg News reported.