Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Ant Group Co have agreed to acquire several floors of an office tower in one of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's priciest districts for HK$7.2 billion ($925 million), as the Chinese tech leaders ramp up investment in the Asian financial hub.
The acquisition is the largest office property transaction in the SAR since 2021. China’s e-commerce leader and its fintech affiliate will buy the top 13 floors of One Causeway Bay from Mandarin Oriental International Ltd and turn them into their local headquarters, the companies said in separate statements.
Alibaba and its 33 percent-owned Ant have made inroads into the HKSAR, the first stop on a global expansion in search of growth. They’re taking advantage of a lull in the city’s commercial real estate market, where valuations have dropped and vacancy rates have surged to about 17 percent.
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Ant Chairman Eric Jing pledged to deepen its investment in a city that’s endured a post-Covid downturn. The fintech company’s international arm is seeking stablecoin licenses in the SAR.
Alibaba, for its part, is again aggressively pursuing growth at home and abroad, in spheres from AI to online shopping.
“This landmark property acquisition reflects our confidence in Hong Kong’s economy and operating environment, and we see Hong Kong as an ideal home base for our international expansion,” Alibaba Chairman Joseph Tsai said in the statement.
