Henry Cheng Kar-shun chairman of Hong Kong’s New World Development, won approval this week to build 15,000 new homes in London as part of an £8.4 billion development. It will be Britain's single largest regeneration development.
To fund the project that is estimated to take more than 10 years, developer Knight Dragon - privately owned by Cheng of New World Development - has not ruled out any capital financing opportunities and pursuing a stock listing in Hong Kong or London is an option.
In addition to the new housing, the urban redevelopment project calls for the creation of office space, hotels, a new transport terminal and a film studio, as well as schools and a health centre. Greenwich Peninsula is also planned to include 2.6km of public river frontage.
"The scale of the project is so big and the capital requirement will build up, so we will see whether we can list [the company] in Hong Kong or London," said Sammy Lee, a vice-chairman of Knight Dragon. Lee said the company could also look for partners to co-develop the project.
The new plan was approved with the backing of London mayor Boris Johnson, as a condition of the approval a minimum of 3,930 of the homes built will be affordable housing that the government will buy back from Knight Dragon at cost.
