CREO’s Chinese property holdings hit €872.4m

IRISH property company China Real Estate Opportunities Limited has seen its property holdings in China increase in value to €872.4 million, an increase of €70m in just six months.

CREO’s market capitalisation on the AIM market in London stands at £408m (€546.75m).

Treasury Holdings-linked CREO is forging ahead with plans for further developments in China. Last month it bought a 50% interest in two sites in Tangdao Bay, Qingdao for close to €19m. The development at Qingdao, the site of the sailing events for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is a single integrated project comprising residential, retail and hotel. It is expected to have a completion value of close to €500m when construction is completed over the next two years or so.

Shanghai Industrial Investment Corp, the real estate investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government, is building a tunnel under Qingdao Bay to link the site with Qingdao which has a population of two million people. SII will partner with CREO in the Qingdao development.

Yesterday, CREO announced independent valuations conducted by CB Richard Ellis on properties in the company’s property portfolio indicate an aggregate gross value of RMB9.31 billion (€872.4m).

“When the company was launched in July 2007, based on valuations as at June 1, 2007, the same properties were valued at RMB8.56bn (€802 million),” the company said.

A company statement noted: “While the valuation of the company’s properties is key to the value of the company’s net assets, numerous other factors will also be brought into account including any provision which may be made for performance fees or for actual or contingent tax liabilities.”

Yesterday, Treasury Holdings announced the appointment of the managing director of Treasury Holdings China, Richard David, to the main board of Treasury Holdings.

“We now have more than 50 people based full time in Shanghai and Beijing and Treasury Holdings continues to identify many exciting operations in China,” Treasury co-owner, Richard Barrett, said.

Treasury also has an interest in the proposed Dongtan eco-city, based on Chongming Island off Shanghai and is assembling a substantial pipeline of prospects for CREO throughout China.