Chinese are Investing in U.S. Fargo, N.D.??? Maybe

Chinese developers have been purchasing big real estate projects in the world’s most important cities in the past year. They will continue the shopping spree this year, with other Chinese groups to follow the trend soon, according to real estate analysts.

Greenland Holding Group Co., a state-owned developer that built one of China’s tallest towers, on Tuesday bought the historic Ram Brewery Site in southwest London. The Shanghai-based company said it plans to spend $1billon to purchase and develop the place. Separately, it announced plans to invest another $1 billion in a residential tower in the Canary Wharf financial district.

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Greenland’s investment marks the beginning of a new wave of shopping spree. Last year, it branched out into the U.S. and Australia. The company aims to generate up to 25 percent of revenue from overseas as it seeks to diversify from the volatile home market, according to David Green-Morgan, global capital markets research director at Jones Lang LaSalle. It is also looking at places like Canada, France and Singapore other than London, where prominent Chinese developers including Dalian Wanda Group and Chinese institutions such as Ping An Insurance have already invested.

Greg Penn, managing director of capital markets at CBRE Asia, said other Chinese investors, such as high net-worth individuals, pension funds and insurance companies, will probably venture overseas as their developer peers continue to be active abroad. “Other Chinese groups will follow because they will see that their peers in the industry have had success investing into the overseas market. That will give them comfort and that will induce other sources of Chinese capital to invest overseas,” he said.

Penn said Chinese investors will be more active in Europe and the Pacific, especially Australia. He said they may even enter Brazil and India because of the potential growth of those markets. ywang