Morgan Stanley to sell China property to Singapore's Alpha

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI: The property investment arm of Morgan Stanley is in final talks to sell an apartment complex in China to a unit of Singapore's Keppel Land, sources close to the deal said on Feb 2.

The overall value of the property is estimated at about 900 million yuan (RM444.32 million).

The sources would not disclose the total value of the sale of the luxury apartment complex, which is controlled by Morgan Stanley and partly owned by a local partner.

Alpha Investment Partners, a unit of Singapore's No.3 developer Keppel Land, was in exclusive negotiations with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Asia to purchase the Jinlin Tiandi complex in downtown Shanghai, they said.

"In the long term, this is a pretty good investment for any foreign investor," said Clement Luk, chief executive of Eastern and Northeast China at Centaline Properties. "But in the short term, rental yields will be quite low because residential prices in Shanghai have risen far too quickly."

One of the sources said Alpha was the only bidder left after several rounds of negotiations and that the deal was expected to close within the next couple of months.

Executives at Alpha and Morgan Stanley declined comment.

If the deal is closed, it could be Alpha's first investment in mainland China, the sources said. -- Reuters