Grosvenor Asia Pacific
Having established a solid platform in China and Japan with a focus on residential and retail, our business is expanding steadily.
We concentrate our development activity on establishing a distinct luxury residential brand by delivering a high-quality product differentiated by innovative design and environmental features.
In 2007, we disposed of non-core assets to re-invest in strategic core sectors, growing proprietary assets by 74%.
Grosvenor Place at Lakeville Regency
Type Investment
Country Mainland China
City Shanghai
Sector Residential
Ownership Wholly owned
Area 8,900m2
"This luxury residential building is our second investment in Mainland China. The property provides 28 triplex units in downtown Shanghai. Although recently completed, we have installed under-floor heating for each unit to ensure long-term energy savings and have upgraded the finishes for a long-term hold."
Nick Loup
Managing Director
Strategy
China, India and Japan remain the drivers in the region, on the back of rapidly rising disposable income and consumption. The creation of new wealth underpins our focus on high-end residential and retail property.
Combining our international knowledge with local expertise, we aim to expand our residential development programme in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo and our investments in Shanghai and Tokyo. We will be adding to our investment portfolio and including retail as a second core sector.
Milestones
During the year we sold our only investment in Singapore. In Hong Kong, we disposed of our two Lippo strata office investments and our luxury residential portfolio in the Grosvenor Land Property Fund; we also sold a 20% stake in our Castle Peak development to Hotel Properties Limited, previously our partner in Singapore.
Investment activity
This was our busiest year to date:we invested, on behalf of Grosvenor Asia Pacific and Grosvenor Fund Management, £337m in 36 deals. We added three commercial investments in Japan: the largest Dotonbori, Osaka, £41m; and two residential investments in Shanghai - Chester Court at Gubei, £14m, and Grosvenor Place at Lakeville Regency, £41m, both of which we expect to hold for the medium to long term.
The portfolio at year end
Our capital is now allocated 49.2% Japan, 21.1% Hong Kong and 29.7% Mainland China. Residential remains our primary focus with 1,757 residential units under management on behalf of Grosvenor Asia Pacific and Grosvenor Fund Management.
Outlook for 2008
Even with some fallout from the credit crisis, the outlook in our property markets remains robust given the strong medium-term drivers of rising consumption and rapid urbanisation. Investors are converting tactical allocations to long-term strategic positions with significantly increased weightings to Asia. Consequently we expect another year of expansion of our portfolio and team.
Nick Loup
Managing Director
Proprietary portfolio
