Swire Properties Enters Mainland Retail Sector

Swire Properties has announced plans to build its China headquarters in Beijing, which marks the beginning of its expansion in Mainland China.

Gordon Ongley, chief executive officer of Swire Properties Mainland China, told Chinese media that Swire Properties now has four projects in the mainland. The Village at Sanlitun, which will start operation in the middle of 2008, will be Swire Properties' first retail project opened in the mainland.

Swire Properties' first representative office was set up in Guangzhou in 2001, followed by that in Beijing and Shanghai in 2005, and Chengdu in 2007. Besides The Village at Sanlitun, Swire Properties has a 97% stake in Tai Koo Hui in Guangzhou and a 50% shareholding in the Dazhongli project in Shanghai. Together with the newly-announced retail-led joint venture project located at Jiangtai in Chaoyang District, the company's total investment in mainland China will be over RMB20 billion, producing a total gross floor area of over one million square meters across the four projects. All the four projects will be managed by Swire Properties.

Swire Properties was founded in 1972. It develops and manages commercial, retail and residential properties. In Hong Kong, the total project area completed by Swire Properties is over 1.2 million square meters, with Island East, Pacific Place and Festival Walk as its core holdings. Outside Asia, the company has a presence in the United States as well as the United Kingdom.