Xiamen tower complex sold at auction
16/4/2003 14:25
Yuanhua International Mansion in Xiamen, in southeast China's Fujian
Province, was sold for 163 million yuan (US$20 million) yesterday to a real
estate company, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
Yesterday's auction was
the fourth held to sell the building, a two-tower complex comprising a 28-storey
five-star hotel and a 21-storey office building. The previous three all failed
to yield a sale.
Bidding started at 139 million yuan, 6 million yuan
lower than the previous auction, and the deposit required had been halved to 5
million yuan.
Hu Huiquan, president of Fuchun Dongfang Group, said he
chose the building because of its location in Xiamen, with the second highest
per-capita gross domestic product nationwide after Shanghai.
Also, the
building is in Xiamen's new development area, where he expects huge market
potential, Hu said.
He declined to give details about how the
Shenzhen-based property group would handle the building, saying only that he
would consult international property developers before marketing it.
With
an area of 10,773 square meters, construction of the building's main body was
finished in 1998, at a total cost of 400 million yuan.
It was confiscated
after its previous owner, Lai Changxing, was charged with smuggling, the biggest
case of its kind in China's history.
The previous three auctions were
held last December, September and July.
The third one proved fruitless
when neither bidders nor auctioneer appeared, and the second was held with only
one bidder who failed to meet the starting bid.
The first auction started
at 168 million yuan and finished in less than 20 minutes as no buyer had paid
the 20-million-yuan deposit to participate in the
event.
Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news
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