KUALA LUMPUR: Oxley Holdings, a Singapore developer, has exchanged contracts to purchase Royal Wharf, a 40-acre (16ha) tract in London along the River Thames, for £200 million (RM1.02 billion) from Ballymore Group.

The contract of sale was signed on Oct 31. The property is a collection of freehold and leasehold parcels of land adjacent to each other and is collectively called the Royal Wharf.

The Singaporean developer intends to develop the area into a mixed-use development with about 3,000 residential units and a variety of commercial, retail, leisure and educational facilities, it said in official statements last week.

“Royal Wharf is an outstanding opportunity and offers a blank canvas to create something very special for London,” said Oxley CEO Ching Chiat Kwong. “It has over 500m of river frontage with a Crossrail station one kilometre away.”

Oxley is a lifestyle property development specialising in residential, commercial and industrial units with projects in China, Malaysia and Cambodia.

“We are delighted to have exchanged contracts with Oxley. We have a shared vision with them in terms of developing high quality, dynamic environments that create a built legacy,” said Ballymore chairman and CEO Sean Mulryan.

Ballymore’s landmark developments in London include the Embassy Gardens, West Hampstead Square and Providence Tower. It has 20,000 residential units across central London.

The site of Royal Wharf has plans for a 363,000 sq m development, with 3,384 homes, a new school, shops, offices and riverside restaurants, catering to a population of about 10,000 when completed. This project is the largest London development opportunity in the market since the Battersea Power Station in 2012.

Besides the Crossrail station, slated for opening in 2018, connectivity is good in the area, with the Docklands Light Railway, international connections from London City Airport and boat links from a proposed pier.

“This deal represents another milestone in the regeneration of London. It comes as a direct result of the mayor’s trade mission, in which we were able to showcase London’s exciting development opportunities to potential international investors, and I am delighted that Oxley Holdings will now be taking the Royal Wharf development forward,” said David Slater, director of international business development at London & Partners, the mayor’s official promotional organisation for London.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 8, 2013.