CREO to sell Tangdao Bay stake

Treasury Holdings-backed China Real Estate Opportunities (CREO) is selling its holding in one of its projects for almost ₤34 million.

The London-listed company announced today that it is selling its 50 per cent stake in its Tangdao Bay joint venture project to its partner, SIIC Shanghai Holdings.

CREO will realise ₤33.8 million from the deal, which it said this morning represents a 10.9 per cent premium to the price put on Tangdao Bay's by independent valuers in June last year.

The company intends returning some of the cash to shareholders, and has committed to spending ₤15 million on a share buy back.

This means that it will not go ahead with the planned issue of zero-dividend preference shares, the proceeds of which it was intending to use to buy back its ordinary shares.

Tangdao Bay is a mixed use development on China's east coast, to the north of Shanghai. The location is a growing industrial and tourist centre and was used for marine-based events at the 2008 Olympics.

This is the second such sale by CREO in the last 12 months, in June, the company sold its interest in its City Centre Five project in Shanghai.

CREO is listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, its key shareholders include the Treasury Holdings-controlled Real Estate Opportunities (REO).