Hong Kong’s Cheng family has put one of London’s most exclusive hotels up for sale with a price tag of $650 million - more than three times the amount it paid for the building 10 years ago.
The five-star Rosewood London hotel, located on High Holborn, is being sold by the family’s investment firm, CTF Development, and marketed by Eastdil Secured on an invitation-only basis to up to 20 potential buyers.
The list is believed to comprise a number of global sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals from outside the UK.
Belle Epoque Landmark
The hotel is being sold subject to a management agreement with the ultra-luxury Rosewood brand, owned by the Cheng family’s company New World Hospitality, which will continue to operate the 306-bedroom hotel.
Built in 1914 in the Belle Époque style as the headquarters of the Pearl Assurance Company, which occupied it until 1989, the hotel opened as the Marriott-run Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel in 2000. The Cheng family bought the property in 2006 for £135m and in 2013 embarked on an £85m renovation to convert the building to the Rosewood London.
Restructuring Assets
Cheng Yu-tung, 90, is worth more than $12 billion according to estimates by «Forbes» and «Bloomberg».
The Hong Kong billionaire has transferred shares he owns in publicly listed companies to family funds and also agreed to sell $3.2 billion of Chinese property projects as he restructured his business empire for the next generation.
The tycoon stepped back almost four years ago, when he retired as chairman of his flagship company and put his son Henry Cheng in charge. Cheng’s sprawling business interests range from real estate to jewelry and fashion.
