Buyer linked to Agile’s lender picks up Hong Kong sites at 63% discount
Receivers hand over Hong Kong Island asset to buyer with ties to Agile’s mezzanine lender, records show
Two prime residential sites on Hong Kong Island, once owned by Agile Group Holdings, have been sold to executives linked to the private lender that helped fund the purchase by the distressed Chinese developer in 2022, government records showed.
The adjacent sites – located at 992-998 King’s Road and 2-16 Mount Parker Road in Quarry Bay – were sold for HK$1.2 billion (US$152.9 million) via an offer to purchase and notice of acceptance earlier this month, according to the Land Registry. The receivers handed over the properties to the buyer on Wednesday, the records showed.
The selling price worked out to less than half the HK$3.3 billion Agile paid for them three years ago, according to property agents. Agile took a HK$894 million two-year mezzanine loan at an annual interest rate of 20 per cent from Allied Global Group in 2022 to help trim its US$8.3 billion debt load then, only for China’s housing slump to deepen and trigger record bond defaults.
The buyer was identified as Perfect Way International, whose directors are Farmsville and August Sky Investments, according to official records. Wong Fung-yuen, a director at Thing On Holdings, is listed as its “natural person”. Both Farmsville and August Sky are also listed as directors of Allied Global, the records showed.
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Local developers Yeung Sai-hong and Tony Yeung Siu-tung of Peterson Group, and “Toy King” Choi Chee-ming, who is also the chairman of local builder Early Light International, are connected to Farmsville and August Sky. Yeung Sai-hong and Richard Wong Chung-tak of Thing On Holdings own 33 per cent each of Allied Global.
Peterson and Early Light did not immediately reply to requests for comment.