HSBC Asia Chairman’s Son Buys Hong Kong Homes for $29 Million

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(Bloomberg) — The son of an HSBC Holdings Plc leader has spent at least HK$231 million ($29 million) buying luxury properties in Hong Kong this year, as the city’s home prices hover at an eight-year low.

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Jeremy Wong Ka Chun bought four flats at Hong Kong Parkview, a prime residential development in the city, through a vehicle in the past three months, according to filings. Wong is the son of Peter Wong, chairman of the UK bank’s Asia subsidiary, according to people familiar with the matter. Jeremy also works for HSBC, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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He purchased two connected units for HK$121.5 million this month, through local company Lion Rock (HK) Ltd., land registry filings show. Ming Pao reported the transactions earlier. 

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Months earlier, he used the same company, of which he is the sole director, to buy adjacent homes at another tower for HK$109 million. The properties were formerly owned by Bain Capital’s Asia private equity partner Jonathan Zhu Jia and his wife, filings show. 

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Jeremy Wong is listed as a director with Peter and mother Camay Wong in another local vehicle, Energy World Ltd., companies registry filings show.  

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An HSBC spokesperson declined to comment. Jeremy Wong didn’t respond to a LinkedIn message and Peter Wong didn’t reply to an email. 

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Peter Wong was HSBC’s top executive in Asia until he relinquished that role to be non-executive chairman of Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., the bank’s Asian entity, in 2021. Wong backed a petition in support of Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020, a move that prompted rebukes from UK politicians and investors.

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The UK lender, which counts Hong Kong as its biggest market, is in a major restructuring under Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery, who is seeking to increase efficiency. 

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Hong Kong’s housing market is mired in a prolonged downturn, prompting some deep-pocketed investors to buy high-profile assets from distressed sellers at low prices. 

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Last year, when a local wealthy family tried to offload seven luxury mansions in the Peak area, billionaire Yeung Kin-Man, who made his fortune from mobile phone touch screens, purchased four of them for HK$1.1 billion, according to the South China Morning Post. Another manufacturing entrepreneur, Stephan Horst Pudwill, bought the rest for HK$860 million, the same publication reported.

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Hong Kong Parkview sits on a hill in Tai Tam, an area in the city’s southeast known for its reservoirs and country park. Its developer, Parkview Group, has been strapped for cash as banks became reluctant to extend funds. It sought a loan backed by a collection of artwork from auction house Sotheby’s earlier this year, but the talks didn’t go through, Bloomberg reported this week. Some of the art has been displayed in a clubhouse at Hong Kong Parkview, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

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Parkview Group received a HK$300 million loan from investment firm PAG, and has also been in talks with private credit lenders since late last year for financing of at least HK$2.8 billion, using two residential towers as collateral.

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