Vancouver has apparently seen its first billion-dollar real estate sale as a China-based investment group has bought a controlling interest in the four-tower Bentall Centre office portfolio in downtown Vancouver.
The sale price – which would equal about 20% of the total volume of Lower Mainland commercial real estate sales in 2015 – could persuade other Vancouver building owners to test the international appetite for big commercial packages, agents suggest.
Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. of Beijing is buying the 66% share of the complex owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge, according to reports in the Financial Post and other media.
The deal has not closed or been officially confirmed and no financial deals were released.
“We do not comment on rumours,” said Ivanhoé Cambridge spokesman Sébastien Théberge in Montreal.
CBRE’s Vancouver office, which consulted as brokers on the sale, also declined to comment.
Commercial agents with Avison Young and Colliers International, and other Vancouver sources, had projected the sale price to be north of $1 billion.
“If [Anbang] is the buyer, it suggests that Vancouver competes very well in a global marketplace,” said Colliers executive managing director Kirk Kuester.
“This is a substantial investor that can play the globe for opportunities.”
Anbang Insurance has estimated assets of $114 billion, including New York City’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, which it bought in 2014 for US$1.95 billion, and the HSBC Building in Toronto, which Anbang bought in a land-lease deal for $110 million in 2015.
Kuester said no other large commercial buildings are currently for sale in downtown Vancouver, but that may change.
“Once the metrics around the sale of both Royal Centre and Bentall become public and definitive, they may cause other owners to reflect on their intentions with similar assets. These valuations will be very compelling to other owners.” •
