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A Chinese developer working to restructure huge debts is considering the sale of a major London residential development.
Country Garden Holdings Co. has invited agents to pitch for the sale of Ailsa Wharf in Poplar, east London, React News reported. It is the company’s only development in the UK.
Ailsa Wharf won planning consent in the autumn last year for a scheme planned to include 952 apartments across multiple buildings that could ultimately be worth up to £450M. Country Garden bought the site for £80M in 2018.
Country Garden has about 3,000 housing projects across China, along with $187B of debt, including $17B in dollar-denominated debt. It defaulted on part of that overseas debt in October, and the company and creditors have appointed advisers to restructure its liabilities.
Chinese developers in London have experienced mixed fortunes over the past five years.
Developer Advanced Business Park lost control of a £1.7B office scheme in east London when the special-purpose vehicles that owned it went into administration in 2022. Developer R&F Properties sold one of its Nine Elms projects at a loss in 2022 but secured £770M of construction financing to restart a stalled nearby project later the same year.
Even the Chinese government has faced significant problems. Plans for a new £500M embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint in east London were rejected by councillors at Tower Hamlets, and the project is on hold.
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