China Vanke makes 1st investment in Singapore

SINGAPORE - China's largest residential developer China Vanke will spend 135.5 million Singapore dollars ($109.3 million) to acquire a 30 percent stake in a residential development project in Singapore, its strategic partner Keppel Land Limited said on Tuesday.

Vanke said it is the company's first investment in Singapore.

Keppel Land and Vanke have entered into a strategic partnership that will see both companies jointly develop properties in Singapore and China, Keppel Land said.

Vanke, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, will acquire the 30 percent stake in a condominium development project in Tanah Merah in eastern Singapore from a subsidiary of Keppel Land, which was awarded the residential site for 434.55 million Singapore dollars in October last year.

Keppel Land said it was looking forward to the strategic partnership to help grow its businesses in China as Vanke has operations across almost all the big cities in China.

"Leveraging Vanke's deep insight and keen knowledge of the Chinese market, this win-win partnership will put us in good stead as we look towards scaling up in high-growth cities in China," said Ang Wee Gee, chief executive officer of Keppel Land.

Yu Liang, president of Vanke, said the company looks forward to this long-term partnership with Keppel Land, one of Asia's leading property developers.

"We hope to be able to learn best practices from Keppel Land in the area of real estate development. We are confident that our first joint development project in Tanah Merah will set the pace for future collaborations in Singapore and China," he said.

The project, comprising 726 residential units, is expected to be launched in the second half of 2013.

Keppel Land is a unit of Keppel Corporation, with mixed developments across Singapore and several major Chinese cities. It is one of most active developers from Singapore in China.

Founded in 1984, Vanke is now China's largest residential developer. It is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Its sales exceeded 140 billion yuan ($22.4 billion) in 2012.