Gemdale Corporation, one of China's largest developers by market
value, said yesterday it plans to form a 50-50 overseas real estate
investment venture with UBS AG, Europe's largest bank by
assets.
The joint venture will rise between US$200 million and US$300
million initially, the Shenzhen-based developer said in a statement
to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
As planned, the new venture will become a priority partner for
Gemdale in its future development of residential properties, and an
existing Gemdale real estate project will be selected as a seed
project, the company said.
Gemdale and the new venture will also make a joint investment in
the country.
In a separate filing to the exchange, Gemdale announced its net
profit for 2007 is expected to soar by 100 to 120 percent from
445.28 million yuan (US$61.8 million) a year earlier, mainly
because of increased property sales.
Also yesterday, Guangzhou-based Poly Real Estate Group Co Ltd,
China's largest state-owned developer, said in a statement to the
exchange that its profit would probably double from 2006 due to
higher revenues.
Housing prices jumped an average 10.2 percent in the fourth
quarter of last year in 70 major Chinese cities, an increase of two
percentage points as compared to the previous quarter, the National
Development and Reform Commission said yesterday on its
website.
Prices for new residential properties rose 11.4 percent during
the October-December period, up 2.4 percentage points from the
third quarter.
(Shanghai Daily February 1, 2008)
