Golden Union Group and Warburg Pincus Launch New Venture to Support China’s Urban Renewal and Redevelopment Jun 30, 2021
Shanghai, June 30, 2021 – Golden Union Group, a leading urban renewal and redevelopment operator in China, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing, jointly announced the establishment of Golden Union Assets (“the Company”), a new platform, aiming to create a market-leading player in the urban renewal and redevelopment sector. Golden Union Assets is Warburg Pincus’ largest strategic urban renewal platform in terms of asset under management. The Company will continue to pursue urban renewal projects in Shanghai and Beijing, through acquisition, repositioning, management and operations of under-utilized assets.
Golden Union Assets has strong development and operation capabilities to unlock the value of the under-utilized land and properties as part of the broader urban renewal initiative supported by the government. The Company will focus on acquiring and converting under-utilized assets into serviced apartments, creative offices or mixed-use commercial projects in core locations of Shanghai and Beijing, through the comprehensive management of projects from acquisition, repositioning, management and operations to exit to maximize asset values. Golden Union Assets is cooperating with leading institutions such as GIC, Bentall Green Oak, InfraRed Nan Fung, and Beijing Capital Land on both the entity level as well as the asset level.
Jessica Yu, Chairman of Golden Union Group, said, “After 30 years of rapid growth, China’s real estate industry is entering a new phase of development, focused on unlocking the value of under-utilized assets. Urban renewal and redevelopment, which plays an important role in supporting the high-quality development of cities in China, has been written into the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan. The Golden Union Group has been engaged in property development for 25 years and is one of the pioneers in urban renewal with experiences of over a decade. We’re excited to work with Warburg Pincus to build a leading platform in the urban redevelopment sector.”
Qiqi Zhang, Managing Director of Warburg Pincus, said, “We have been impressed by Golden Union Group’s unique capabilities and strong management team. This investment demonstrates our belief in the tremendous growth opportunity in urban renewal and redevelopment. We’re committed to leveraging our global resources and local expertise to support the Company’s further growth, which will contribute to the high-quality economic development of the cities.”
Currently, Golden Union Assets holds and manages 19 acquired properties in core locations of Shanghai and Beijing with a total AUM of RMB15 billion. The Company targets to reach RMB50 billion of assets under management in the next three years.
The properties include:
- Kempinski The One Suites Hotel Shanghai Downtown (Jing’An District, Shanghai): High-end serviced apartments located in the core commercial area in Shanghai
- Inspace Guanganmen (Xicheng District, Beijing): Small-scale community mall located next to a metro station
- Surpass Space Shankangli (Jing’An District, Shanghai): Quaint low-density historical building complex repositioned into a high-class creative office park and street retail
- Golden Union Park (Xuhui District, Shanghai): Industrial-zoned land redevelopment project with total GFA of ~300k sqm in the core location of Caohejing
About Golden Union Group
Founded in 1995, Golden Union Group has become an established conglomerate with operations across a variety of sectors, including asset management, commercial property operation and management, property development, and hotel development and management. Golden Union Group operates its asset-light business under its subsidiary Golden Union Commercial, which was listed on A share in 2020 (603682.SH).
About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing, and an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $90 billion in over 930 companies in more than 40 countries. As one of the largest and most active private equity firms in real estate investing in Asia, Warburg Pincus has invested about $6 billion in 36 companies since 2005.
Media Contact
Lisa Liang
SVP - Head of Communications and Marketing, China and Southeast Asia, Warburg Pincus
Lisa.Liang@warburgpincus.com