Century Bridge Announces Investment in $103MM Taicang China Residential Project

4^th Jingrui Joint Venture Capitalizes on COVID-19 Rebound in Strong Local Market

BEIJING and DALLAS, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Bridge Capital announced today that it has invested in a second Chinese middle-income, residential project in Taicang, China with Hong-Kong listed developer Jingrui. The $103 million project follows the April announcement of an initial $114 million joint venture development in Taicang with Jingrui, with whom Century Bridge has previously developed successful projects in Ningbo and Wuxi.

Taicang Overview
Taicang is a county-level city in the district of Suzhou in Jiangsu province. Geographically the closest city to Shanghai along the Yangtze River with excellent transportation infrastructure, including a recently completed High-Speed Railway Station, which started operations in July and has reduced travel time to downtown Shanghai to 15 minutes, increasing its attraction for homebuyers from Shanghai.  A number of companies have moved their headquarters from Shanghai and foreign investment has been attracted to the city, including over 300 German companies that have invested a total of over USD 5 billion. The Taicang Port functions as an important extension of Shanghai Port and is currently the largest river port and the 12^th largest port in China by container volume. 

Management Commentary
Commenting on the project Century Bridge CEO, Tom Delatour, noted, "This second Taicang opportunity will allow us to invest in another project supported by strong industry drivers and a recovering local economy.  Taicang's solid economic fundamentals support current and longer-term middle-income residential demand.  Consistent with this outlook we believe our second Taicang project along with our previously announced project is well positioned locally to capitalize on the ongoing demand for attractive affordable middle-income housing."

Century Bridge President, Wei Deng, added, "We are pleased to be developing a fourth project with Jingrui.  We are already working successfully with their established local development and sales team on the first Taicang project which we announced in April.  The completion of the High-Speed Railway Station, which started operations in July, will provide additional support for housing sales in downtown Taicang, especially for the areas close to the High-Speed Railway Station where our projects are located.   

Taicang Investment - KEY FACTS

• In 2019 Taicang's GDP grew 5.1%, with a total GDP of 132.5 billion RMB and achieving a 5-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6%.
• Residential demand drivers –Besides demand from local buyers, given the improved rail connectivity this area continues to attract a great number of homebuyers from Shanghai. Due to increasing job opportunities created by the consistent local business growth, the permanent population increased to 721.2 thousand residents in 2019.
• Location - The Project site is 3.7 kilometers from the recently completed Taicang South High-Speed Railway Station. The high-speed railway line greatly improved the connectivity for the Project site and also incorporates Taicang into the "one-hour circle" within the Yangtze River Delta.
• Nearby Amenities - Within a few minutes' drive are one of the best middle schools, one of the largest shopping centers, and currently under construction 1.8 km southeast of the site, Foliday Town, a large mixed-use resort development with ground floor area of 1.4 million square meters, including international schools, hotels, and commercial spaces.
• Personal Income Growth/Affordability - Strong industries have continued to support population inflow, solid income growth and housing demand. Official urban disposable income per capita in Taicang reached RMB 68,204 in 2019, which is higher than most cities in China. The project is designed with small sized units with affordable total prices, which should further enhance the pace of presales and absorption.
• Development – The $103 million project includes above-ground, gross buildable area of 53,319 square meters/573,936 square feet on a site of 33,325 square meters/358,707 square feet.
• Residential – Will comprise approximately 51,187 square meters/550,974 square feet, representing 96% of above ground, gross buildable area, consisting of ten low-rise buildings with 403 units and ten high-rise buildings with 211 residential units and including 316 underground parking spaces.

Century Bridge is a private equity firm with offices in Beijing, China and Dallas, Texas. The firm is focused exclusively on investment in the middle-income, residential real estate sector in China's growing Tier 2 and 3 cities.  

www.centurybridge.com

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