CapitaLand Ltd., Southeast Asia’s biggest developer, agreed to buy the Chinese property assets of Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. for $2.2 billion, doubling its real estate holdings in the world’s most populous nation.

The purchase of the Orient Overseas Developments Ltd. unit includes seven sites in Shanghai, Kunshan and Tianjin, with about 1.48 million square meters of floor space, the Singapore- based developer said in a statement. About half is residential and the rest is office, retail and hotel space.
CapitaLand raised S$2.8 billion ($2 billion) from the initial public offering of CapitaMalls Asia Ltd. in November.
Orient Overseas, Hong Kong’s biggest container line, is selling its real-estate projects in China after a slump in global trade and excess capacity in the shipping industry made it unprofitable for the first time in 10 years. Orient Overseas reported a $231.8 million loss in the first half ended June 30.
“It’s a good price,” said Geoffrey Cheng, a transport analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong. “Orient Overseas should be using the cash to focus on shipping.”
(Source: Bloomberg)