A group of Chinese developers is holding talks to purchase 40 percent stake in the General Motors office towers in Manhattan, New York. If sold, the deal will be the largest office building transaction in the U.S.
Sources familiar with the deal said to the Wall Street Journal that the building was valued at around $3.4 billion including debt. The buying group is led by a family member of Zhang Xin, the CEO of leading Beijing commercial property development firm, SOHO China Ltd.
Apparently, the tower owes around $1.6 billion in debts to third parties. If the Chinese group purchases the stake, it will spend around $500 million or more on paying off the debts. However, the deal hasn't been confirmed yet, reports WSJ.
The sellers include a consortium of Middle Eastern sovereign fund investors from Qatar and Kuwait, who first purchased the stake in 2008 for $2.8 billion through Goldman Sachs. The remaining 60 percent stake is held by Boston Properties Inc, which is not selling its share of the building.
"If we have the opportunity to work with a new partner, we're happy to do that. We, as a 60 percent owner and with significant opportunities on the control side, feel really good about how we can operate the buildings and what we can do with regards to repositioning and re-tenanting and putting capital into the buildings," Douglas Linde, President of Boston Properties, said in a conference call to Bloomberg.
The building is located on the southeast corner of Central Park just across the Plaza Hotel. The 50 story white marble tower spreads across an area of 1.8 million square and was built by General Motors in 1968.
The tower is currently home to elite tenants like the famous law firm, Weil Gotshal and Manges and beauty products giant, Estee Lauder Co. The retail space includes stores of Apple Inc and FAO Schwarz. The building has the highest rental charges in Manhattan. All the operations of the tower are controlled by Boston Properties.
China's property boom and stringent government regulations are leading investors into the U.S. market. Recently, China Vanke made its debut in the American real estate market with a partnership deal of building two residential San Francisco Towers, with Tishman Speyer.
In the wake of a real estate boom, more Chinese deals are expected to flow in the country.
