China Daisy, Savills partner for joint venture

China Daisy Group, a leading financial service provider in China, has partnered with Savills to establish a joint-venture property service enterprise, aiming to expand its business in property and asset management services, according to the group's top management.

According to the agreement, each party will cooperate in property and asset management, promotion of value-added services, extension of the industry's value chain and other areas, sharing resources in terms of projects, management experiences and technology platforms.

"Together with Savills, we will integrate resources and promote the development of the property and asset management industry," said Byron Zhao Xichen, chairman of the board of directors of the group.

The newly established joint venture has already begun to provide property management services to Daisy Financial Center, previously Henderson Center and acquired by Daisy Group in 2016. It is currently being converted and upgraded to a high-end office project, Zhao said.

"Property developers in the future will bring more add-on services rather than just the basic office building," said Robert McKellar, executive chairman for Savills in the Asia Pacific. "To better satisfy increasing requirements from tenants, landlords should provide better facilities, customized services and develop smart office operations and property management systems," he said.

According to statistics from Savills, the development trend in Beijing's Grade-A office market has remained steady with increasing average rents and a relatively low vacancy rate of 5.8 percent by the second quarter, expecting to receive a supply peak in the second half of 2018.

"Daisy Financial Center is unique in both location and physical environment. China Daisy Group has been conducting extensive research to understand key client requirements to better accommodate this target demographic," said Anthony McQuade, managing director of Savills in North China. "Relatively speaking, there is a substantial supply of ill planned, badly implemented, and/or heavily deteriorating buildings in the capital. This has led to equally as many opportunities for turnaround or conversion projects. We are seeing industrial projects turning into vibrant living communities, while hotels and shopping centers are being turned into stylish office spaces. Many of these are using cutting-edge technologies and exciting new concepts that are reinvigorating various locations and brining extra value to local communities. As Beijing continues to grow and government restrictions on land increases, we believe there will be far more opportunities to partner with Daisy in this area."

According to Zhao, several renowned international and local financial institutions have already shown strong interest in renting spaces for the Daisy Financial Center project.

The group plans to make additional investments of 500 million yuan in the project before May 2019, aiming to upgrade it into a high-end and comprehensive financial service center, he said.

Founded in 2009, China Daisy Asset Management Co Ltd has paid cumulative capital amounting to 12.3 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), according to the company's statement.

With the expansion of its capital management business, the group began to purchase more domestic properties in recent years, including the purchase of the Henderson Center in 2016, Zhao said.

Fan Hang contributed to this story.