Embattled Chinese Developer Sells Giant London Site For A Third Time

R&F has sold the 1.4M SF mixed-use Vauxhall Square site in south west London to an investor backed by Middle Eastern money, the third time it has sold the site in two years. 

Cedarstone Capital Partners, a company set up last September and backed by Dubai-based GFH Partners, said it had completed a deal to buy Vauxhall Square from R&F in a transaction using debt from Cheyne Capital Partners. Regeneration developer Bmor will act as development manager. 

Vauxhall Square comprises private residential, affordable residential, student housing, hotel and offices, and has a total development cost of more than £1B. It was first granted planning consent in 2021 but has stalled because of R&F's financial troubles. The only elements currently delivered are the student accommodation and a hostel, Cedarstone said in a press release.

R&F, which is headquartered in China and listed in Hong Kong, bought the scheme from listed property company CLS for £158M in 2017. It sold the site in April 2022 to Far East Consortium for £96M, only to exercise a buyback option in September that year, repurchasing the development for £107M.

In October 2022, it said it had agreed to sell the site to another Asian investor, Flow Capital, for £108M. Flow was described as providing a bridging loan until the deal completed, with R&F staying on as development manager.

There is no record of that deal not completing, but the news today suggests it did not. R&F is selling London schemes to pay down debt as its domestic residential market contracts. 

It has sold all or part of two other schemes in the area, Thames City and One Nine Elms, to Hong Kong investor CC Land.