HK ‘Superman’ swoops on another mall

Li Ka-shing-owned Cheung Kong Group is buying The Citta, the new suburban mall in Ara Damansara


The Cheung Kong Group, owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, is buying The Citta Strip Mall for an estimated RM245 million.

Sources told Business Times that the purchase was done through Cheung Kong Group’s ARA Asia Dragon Fund.

Citta, the new suburban mall in Ara Damansara, is 70 per cent-owned by German real estate fund SEB Asset Management and 30 per cent by property developer Puncakdana Group.

“There are a few conditions precedent that have to be met before the deal is completed and one of it is state approval,” a source told Business Times.

Messages left at the office of Mah Siew Sian, the managing director of Puncakdana, were not returned.

The open air shopping mall, with some 424,467 sq ft of nett lettable space, opened for B4business in April 2011.

The mall covers three floors, excluding the basement and rooftop, and has over 800 car park bays.

Tenants in the mall include Harvey Norman, MBO cinema, Pappa Rich, Chili’s, Julia Gabriel, RakuZen and Anjappar Restaurant.

Li, who is in the list of Asia’s richest men, is known as “Superman” in Hong Kong due to his deal-making ability.

His Cheung Kong conglomerate is one of Hong Kong’s biggest property developers and owns the world’s largest operator of container ports, among others.

Cheung Kong’s affiliate, ARA Asia Dragon Fund, bought two properties in Malaysia last year – One Mont’ Kiara in Kuala Lumpur and Aeon Bandaraya Mall Melaka – for a total of RM710 million.

In May, ARA Asia Dragon Fund won the bid for three shopping complexes – Klang Parade in Selangor, Ipoh Parade in Perak and Seremban Parade in Negri Sembilan.

It paid some RM450 million to TMW Asia Property Fund.