Chinese eye Albert Island for trading hub

A 6m sq ft Chinese trading post in the Royal Docks, E16, may be in sight after it became clear that one of the shortlisted bidders for the 25-acre Albert Island redevelopment is a Sino-Australian trading house using the same architects as the neighbouring ABP scheme. The bidder is also using the same agents as the 4.7m sq ft Chinese-backed ABP scheme, which Chinese vice premier Ma Kai is due to visit next Wednesday. Next month the GLA will pick a winner for Albert Island, which lodges like a giant drain plug at the eastern end of the Royal Docks and the Thames. [caption id="attachment_865869" align="alignnone" width="1536"] Albert Island proposed development area[/caption] [caption id="attachment_865870" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Royal Docks’ ABP scheme[/caption] The shortlist On the shortlist of three for the £1bn project is little-known ASF. The two other bidders are understood to be British. Australian co-founder Geoff Baker is pulling together ASF’s bid with the aid of Farrells and Savills – the architects and agent helping shape ABP’s development. Multiplex has a £240m contract with ABP to build 600,000 sq ft of offices and shops by 2018 for Chinese companies. Preparatory work began in July. Last October, David Cameron and Chinese president Xi Jinping attended a ceremony where another giant Chinese builder, CITIC Construction, took 25% of the project with an end value of £1.7bn covering 4.7m sq ft. Baker was in London last week. Over tea in the Shangri-La hotel in The Shard, SE1, the 60-year-old lawyer and former head of what is now Norton Rose in Beijing said ASF was interested in more than the Albert Dock project. “We have been seriously looking for investments in the UK for more than a year now. We’ve examined projects in Birmingham, Bicester and Windsor. There is no limit to the size or complexity of the schemes. But they must have a ‘China’ element as partner, funder, or buyer.” Baker will not discuss the Albert Island bid, which has the backing of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, the world’s third largest contractor. But announcements posted by ASF to the Australian Stock Exchange earlier this year revealed Farrells’ and Savills’ involvement. Plans for the future ASF’s accounts for the year to June, published on 19 September, say: “The company’s vision is to build the Royal Eastern Gateway into trade, cultural and marine hub to blend eastern and western trade and cultural links. “It will be a place to showcase recognised Chinese products to UK and European buyers and operate as a European hub for Sino-UK businesses to design, develop, distribute and wholesale manufactured goods on a business-to-business basis.” A really big shed? Baker won’t say. But he smiles at a rumour put to him that Australian builder Lendlease has taken an interest. “They are one of our friends in Australia,” he says. He is wearing a gold lapel badge that looks a bit like a lotus tree. “It’s the logo for our development in Queensland.” This development is the giant A$3bn (£1.8bn) Gold Coast Integrated Resort, for which ASF has also partnered with China State Construction Engineering. ASF has a one in three chance of winning the Albert Island bid. The GLA brief calls only for “good-quality, well-designed, industrial and commercial development supporting a mix of skilled jobs and deliver economic development,” plus a commercial boatyard and the refurbishment of an old office block. Housing is discouraged. It is not a hard brief for the two other bidders to match, especially if they can come up with tenants. By Christmas, it should be clear if Albert Island is to become a Chinese adjunct to the APB scheme, or not. Who are the ASF Group? The listed company formed in 2006 is a conduit for Chinese money into the rest of the world. Its 2016 accounts show income of A$1.2m and net assets sharply down to A$12m from A$28m, due to asset write-downs. “We are a development and trading company,” explains co-founder Geoff Baker (right). “We make lumps of money every few years when we sell.” The company has stakes in a huge Queensland resort and a 66-floor residential tower on the Gold Coast. Baker is a 60-year-old lawyer with three grown-up children from his first marriage and two, aged 14 and 12, from his second marriage to his Chinese-born wife Helen. She and their children live near Cambridge, where Helen has completed a PhD. Baker divides his time between the UK and Australia. He has written a book called Think Like Chinese. The link into Chinese money is provided by ASF chairman Min Yang also known as Mary Yang. The 49-year-old is billed as having “over 20 years of hands-on experience dealing with both private and state-run businesses in China”. She is an “absolute dynamo”, says Baker. But why is ASF coming to the UK? After all, Britain is now flooded with Chinese investors. “I think you will find that Chinese investment in the UK market is only just beginning,” he says.