Receivers sell three Schroders Kowloon retail floors for HK$323 million, a 51% haircut on debt
Receivers acting for Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) have agreed to sell three commercial podium floors at Harbourfront Landmark in Hung Hom for HK$323 million. The price is less than half the HK$661.3 million of debt linked to the floors, which Schroders Real Estate defaulted on, and represents
Receivers have agreed to sell three Kowloon commercial floors seized from Schroders Real Estate for HK$323 million (S$55.7 million), taking a 51 per cent haircut on debt backed by the property. Acting for Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), the receivers signed agreements to sell the third, fifth and sixth floors of the commercial podium at Harbourfront Landmark in Kowloon’s Hung Hom area to Rich Base, a local company controlled by mainland investor Lai Mun Zhong, according to Land Registry records filed on Wednesday.
The price is less than half of the HK$661.3 million of debt linked to the floors, a figure that Link REIT disclosed in a filing with the stock exchange in September when it named Schroders Asia Pacific real estate chairman Andrew Moore as an independent non-executive director. Receivers had seized the floors in June after Schroders defaulted on debt associated with the properties. The sale makes the floors the second Schroders property in Hong Kong to be sold by receivers, after The Nate, a serviced apartment building in Tsim Sha Tsui. A fund managed by the company had paid HK$1.16 billion to acquire the Harbourfront Landmark assets in 2016 – implying a 72 per cent markdown for the sale last week.
The three floors have a combined approved gross floor area of 73,820 square feet (6,858 square metres) and occupy part of the seven-storey commercial podium of the 2001-vintage Harbourfront Landmark at 11 Wan Hoi Street, a short walk from Whampoa MTR station. The numbering skips the unlucky fourth floor, as is local custom. Rich Base signed separate agreements for each floor, paying HK$81 million for the 18,520 sq ft third floor, HK$122.8 million for the 28,030 sq ft fifth floor and HK$119.2 million for the 27,270 sq ft sixth floor. The combined price works out to HK$4,376 per square foot, according to Mingtiandi calculations.
The assets are changing hands after Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong signed a 12-year lease for all three floors in September last year, according to Land Registry records. The space had stood vacant since 2022, with analysts estimating that the new owner will earn an initial rental yield of around 5.7 per cent on the property. Prior to this latest purchase, in 2020 Lai paid New World Development HK$1.21 billion to acquire the Eight Kwai Fong serviced apartment project in Happy Valley, and in 2021 purchased a unit in CK Asset’s 21 Borrett Road home in the Mid-levels for HK$154.8 million.
Schroders had taken control of the retail properties in 2020 with its acquisition of Pamfleet, a local fund manager co-founded and led by Moore. A planned auction organised by JLL in March 2024, at a valuation of around HK$1 billion, was later called off. At HK$323 million, the new sale price is about two-thirds below that figure. In July, the receivers appointed Colliers and Savills to market the floors, asking for HK$550 million in a tender that closed on 3 September. The agreed price is 41 per cent below that asking price. Pamfleet Asset Management (HK), the group’s licensed arm, applied to the Securities and Futures Commission on 21 July to halt its regulated business, effective 31 July, according to Link REIT’s September announcement that Moore would be joining its board, with the notice also indicating that Schroders’ Hong Kong-based business began restructuring some business lines in 2025.
The Hung Hom sale comes after creditors had seized Schroders’ Nathan Road property in June last year following a loan default. Receivers sold the property for HK$272 million in August 2025 – a markdown of more than 66 per cent from what Pamfleet and its partner paid to acquire and renovate the building. Also in August last year, creditors seized the Worfu Mall in North Point after a joint venture between Schroders and UK investor Chelsfield defaulted on a HK$1.5 billion loan backed by the property. Pamfleet and Chelsfield had paid HK$2 billion for the mall in 2017, and a marketing effort at HK$1.6 billion failed to find a buyer. There has been no report of a sale to date.
