{"id":361611,"date":"2023-10-16T23:14:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/?p=361611"},"modified":"2023-10-18T08:04:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T00:04:21","slug":"receivers-marketing-london-office-seized-from-chen-hongtian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/outbound-investment\/receivers-marketing-london-office-seized-from-chen-hongtian\/","title":{"rendered":"Receivers Marketing London Office Tower Seized From Mainland Tycoon"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_347883\" style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-347883\" class=\"size-full wp-image-347883\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/5-Churchill-Place-e1680193191851.jpg\" alt=\"5 Churchill Place\" width=\"780\" height=\"526\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/5-Churchill-Place-e1680193191851.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/5-Churchill-Place-e1680193191851-400x270.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/5-Churchill-Place-e1680193191851-640x432.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-347883\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">5 Churchill Place is on the market again after earlier sales attempts faltered (Image: Knight Frank)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Savills has kicked off a sales campaign for 5 Churchill Place in London, attempting to find a buyer for the Canary Wharf office tower <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/finance\/lenders-seize-cheung-keis-5-churchill-place-in-london-office-after-default\/\">seized from mainland tycoon Chen Hongtian<\/a>, who had earlier defaulted on loans backed by the onetime headquarters of now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns.<\/p>\n<p>The property consultancy is marketing the 12-storey office block on behalf of receivers from FTI Consulting, which had taken over the property from Chen, who chairs Shenzhen-based investment firm Cheung Kei Group, touting a pair of new tenants which moved into the property in July and the building\u2019s virtual freehold title.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/ad.doubleclick.net\/ddm\/trackclk\/N6563.3378992MINGTIANDI\/B30546704.375324595;dc_trk_aid=566156183;dc_trk_cid=192150727;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;ltd=;dc_tdv=1\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"adv-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Copy of APAC_EN_Capabilities_Static_StandoutAPAC_780x250_Real Estate\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Copy-of-APAC_EN_Capabilities_Static_StandoutAPAC_780x250_Real-Estate.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Copy-of-APAC_EN_Capabilities_Static_StandoutAPAC_780x250_Real-Estate.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Copy-of-APAC_EN_Capabilities_Static_StandoutAPAC_780x250_Real-Estate-400x128.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Copy-of-APAC_EN_Capabilities_Static_StandoutAPAC_780x250_Real-Estate-640x205.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" width=\"780\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><script language='JavaScript1.1' src=\"https:\/\/ad.doubleclick.net\/ddm\/trackimpj\/N6563.3378992MINGTIANDI\/B30546704.375324595;dc_trk_aid=566156183;dc_trk_cid=192150727;ord=+ Date.now();dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};ltd=;dc_tdv=1?\" attributionsrc ><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The 313,000 square foot (29,000 square metre) asset is being relaunched for sale as trades of office assets dropped by 64 percent in the third quarter, compared to a year ago, according to JLL, with Chen having laboured for more than a year to sell the building himself before the receivers seized it in May of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Chen had originally acquired the 2009-vintage asset <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/outbound-investment\/cheung-kei-buys-former-bear-stearns-london-office-for-363m-in-second-uk-deal\/\">in 2017 for \u00a3270 million<\/a> (then $363 million), in a buying spree that saw him pay record prices for homes and offices in Hong Kong and London, with five of those properties having been seized by creditors this year following loan defaults.<\/p>\n<h3>London Failing<\/h3>\n<p>With the building located on the eastern side of Canary Wharf, at the gateway to Wood Wharf, Savills is highlighting the 985 years remaining on 5 Churchill Place\u2019s land lease, connectivity to the Elizabeth Line transit system and air rights in attempting to find a buyer for the property.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_347880\" style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-347880\" class=\"size-full wp-image-347880\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Chen-Hongtian.jpeg\" alt=\"Chen Hongtian of Cheung Kei\" width=\"780\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Chen-Hongtian.jpeg 780w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Chen-Hongtian-400x247.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Chen-Hongtian-640x395.jpeg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-347880\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheung Kei chairman Chen Hongtian is watching another former trophy go up for sale<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Credit Agricole and the World Association of Nuclear Operators both agreed to new leases in the building in July with the weighted average unexpired lease term to lease expiry in the property now at 10.5 years.<\/p>\n<p>No price details for the property were provided in a sales flyer distributed by Savills, although sources familiar with the property told Mingtiandi earlier this year that Chen and Cheung Kei <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/outbound-investment\/chinas-cheung-kei-scrambling-to-sell-london-office-assets-as-debt-deadline-looms\/\">had been attempting to sell the building last year for \u00a3260 million<\/a>. The company was said at the time to have received bids for both 5 Churchill Place and 20 Canada Square, another Canary Wharf tower the Chinese investor had purchased in 2017, however, none of those offers were accepted by Chen or Cheung Kei.<\/p>\n<p>Some \u00a31.2 billion in office properties found buyers in central London during the third quarter, according to a report by JLL earlier this month, with that amount down 64 percent from the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe twin impacts of rapidly rising interest rates, coupled with structural challenges regarding the nature of office working have combined to deliver uncertainty to the marketplace,\u201d said Julian Sandbach, head of central London capital markets at JLL, while expressing optimism that the majority of value reduction has already taken place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/events\/oxford-ivanhoe-kic-savills-on-singapore-india-markets\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"adv-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"14 NOVEMBER 2023 conrad centennial Singapore\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/14-NOVEMBER-2023-conrad-centennial-Singapore.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/14-NOVEMBER-2023-conrad-centennial-Singapore.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/14-NOVEMBER-2023-conrad-centennial-Singapore-400x128.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/14-NOVEMBER-2023-conrad-centennial-Singapore-640x205.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" width=\"780\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chen and Cheung Kei had purchased 5 Churchill Place with the help of a \u00a3175 million loan from Lloyd\u2019s Bank as well as mezzanine debt extended by an undisclosed international conglomerate. Lloyd\u2019s is understood to no longer hold the majority of that initial loan, which as of March this year was delinquent.<\/p>\n<p>In late August receivers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/finance\/cheung-kei-boss-seized-hong-kong-home-said-sold-for-53-5m\/\">sold an apartment in Hong Kong\u2019s Mid-Levels formerly owned by Chen<\/a> for HK$420 million ($53.5 million), after the billionaire had defaulted on an HK$500 million mortgage on the property. That sale represented a 38 percent discount to the apartment\u2019s market value.<\/p>\n<h3>Defaults and Seizures<\/h3>\n<p>The marketing effort for 5 Churchill Place makes it the fourth of Chen\u2019s property trophies to have been put up for sale by receivers this year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the Mid-Levels apartment, which had been put on the market in May, during that same month receivers began marketing One HarbourGate East Tower in Kowloon\u2019s Hung Hom area after taking over the building formerly known as the Cheung Kei Center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/finance\/chinas-cheung-kei-group-sees-hong-kong-hq-seized-creditors-grab-chairmans-homes\/\">in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mipim-asia.com\/?utm_source=mingtiandi&#038;utm_medium=barter_website&#038;utm_campaign=mipimasia2023\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"adv-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"AR-607487_Mipim Asia_23_Banner Resize 780&#215;250\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/AR-607487_Mipim-Asia_23_Banner-Resize-780x250-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/AR-607487_Mipim-Asia_23_Banner-Resize-780x250-1.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/AR-607487_Mipim-Asia_23_Banner-Resize-780x250-1-400x128.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/AR-607487_Mipim-Asia_23_Banner-Resize-780x250-1-640x205.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" width=\"780\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In August, receivers put up for sale a HK$2.1 billion mansion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/finance\/receivers-selling-chen-hongtians-peak-mansion-in-hong-kong\/\">at 15 Gough Hill Road on Hong Kong\u2019s Peak<\/a>, which had been owned by Chen until being seized by creditors in March. All four of those properties have been marketed by Savills.<\/p>\n<p>During June creditors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/outbound-investment\/cheung-keis-20-canada-square-seized-in-london\/\">also took over 20 Canada Square<\/a>, which Chen had paid \u00a3385 million for six years ago, after the garment king last October had defaulted on a \u00a3265.5 million loan originally from Lloyd\u2019s Bank which it had used to finance purchase of the London property.<\/p>\n<p>Now considered a B grade office asset, 20 Canada Square is said to have been on the market for nearly two years before Cheung Kei defaulted, with that property having yet to be put up for sale by receivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Savills has kicked off a sales campaign for 5 Churchill Place in London, attempting to find a buyer for the Canary Wharf office tower seized from mainland tycoon Chen Hongtian, who had earlier defaulted on loans backed by the onetime&#8230;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/real-estate\/outbound-investment\/receivers-marketing-london-office-seized-from-chen-hongtian\/\">Read&nbsp;More>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":347880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[842],"tags":[2601,6370,5457,5382,5359,2109,5391],"ppma_author":[8841],"authors":[{"term_id":8841,"user_id":178,"is_guest":0,"slug":"michael-cole","display_name":"Michael Cole","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3ade7d9efc9643ef5127fe8275be2eb2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Cole","first_name":"Michael","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361611"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mingtiandi.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=361611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}