Mandarin Oriental in talks to sell part of One Causeway Bay in Hong Kong to Alibaba: Report
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Alibaba and its affiliates are currently leasing 10 floors at Times Square in Causeway Bay, with their tenancy set to expire in 2028.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
HONG KONG - Singapore-listed Mandarin Oriental International, part of the Jardine group, is in talks to sell the upper 13 floors of One Causeway Bay in Hong Kong to Alibaba Group Holding, a newspaper reported.
The deal is worth about HK$7 billion (S$1.16 billion), the report in the Hong Kong Economic Times on Sept 30 said.
Shares of Mandarin Oriental jumped on the news, with the stock closing up 6.8 per cent to US$2.35 on Sept 30 in Singapore.
The Chinese tech giant and its affiliates are currently leasing 10 floors at Times Square in Causeway Bay, with their tenancy set to expire in 2028, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people.
Mandarin Oriental confirmed it is in discussions about a possible sale of office space within One Causeway Bay, while adding that there is no certainty that any transaction will proceed. Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment.
One Causeway Bay was developed by Mandarin Oriental. It has 29 floors and retail space, according to an agency website.
Alibaba has been making inroads in Hong Kong, along with its fintech affiliate Ant Group, as the companies expand overseas in search of growth. The Jack Ma-backed firm would be taking advantage of a lull in the city’s commercial real estate market, where valuations have dropped and vacancy rates have surged to about 17 per cent.
“The city’s office vacancy rate is within striking distance of an all-time high,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Patrick Wong and Francis Chan said in a Sept 29 note. BLOOMBERG
