OIO consents Chinese-owned company's 175-unit Auckland apartment development

Wednesday, 5 February 2020

The Government is introducing new powers which it says will protect New Zealanders' interests in important assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications and electricity infrastructure.(First published in November 2019)

The Overseas Investment Office has approved plans by a Chinese-owned company to build a 175-unit apartment complex in Auckland's Browns Bay.

The office, which assessed applications from overseas investors, granted consent to New Zealand-registered company Since20181 Development Limited in December to purchase three plots of land for $5.8 million in the North Shore suburb to develop.

Since20181 proposed to build at least 175 residential units, with at least 80 apartments.

Although the developer was a company registered in New Zealand, its lawyer Steven Lee said the company had to get permission from the OIO because of its 'Chinese ownership interests'.

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Lee said he was not aware of how much the development would be worth.

OIO records showed Since20181 purchased 759 square metres of land at 20 Browns Bay Rd, Rothesay Bay, for $1.68m in December.

The company also purchased two properties covering an area of 2024sqm of land for $4.2m at 22 and 24 Beechwood Rd.

Earlier in 2019 Since20181 Development purchased neighbouring land at 16 and 18 Browns Bay Rd. The capital value of these two properties was about $2.2m each.

Altogether, the five properties covered an area of about half a hectare.

Since20181 Development is owned by Baoju Hu and the company's registered address in New Zealand is a residential property in Auckland.

The registered address is the same as the company's co-director Xinjian Wu's address.

Wu and Bo Shen are co-directors of several companies Hu owns.

The OIO's consent decision showed the company planned to complete construction by December 2025.

Its development consent was granted on the grounds it would not occupy or lease any residential apartments in the development and sell them all by the end of December 2026.

However, the Chinese developer planned to retain and lease three of the ground floor units as shops for the apartment residents.

The number of applications from potential overseas investors jumped from 97 to 145 in 2019, partly due to the OIO's functions being boosted by changes to the Overseas Investment Act in late 2018.

Altogether, the five properties purchased by Since20181 Development covered an area of about half a hectare.

In total, the office approved land and business investments worth more than $17.5 billion in 2019, compared with $12.5b the year before.

Approved applications included the sale of Trade Me Group Limited to British private equity firm Apax Partners for $2.6b and the $881.5m offer from Mexico's Finaccess Capital for a 75 per cent stake in Restaurant Brands.

The top three countries by net investment in 2019 were Canada ($1.18b), Singapore ($600m) and China ($527m).

This story has been corrected. Two of the properties were in Beechwood Rd not Browns Bay Rd.