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Fosun Group, owner of 28 Liberty, gears up to sell $6B in assets
Chinese firm wants to get its credit rating above junk
A Shanghai-based conglomerate is preparing to shed $6 billion in assets in an effort to boost its credit ratings.
The Fosun Group, which owns an office building at 28 Liberty Street, plans to sell $6 billion worth of its assets to get its credit rating above junk, Bloomberg reported. Liang Xinjun, CEO of Fosun Internation Ltd., said the company plans to announce specifics of the sales from now through the end of 2017. S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Services rated the company two levels below investment grade.
Fosun, one of China’s largest private companies, plans to focus on finance, healthcare and leisure moving forward. The company has acquired $15 billion in assets overseas since 2010, and it’s not clear how this asset purge will affect its New York real estate investments, as well as its recent purchase of Club Med and Cirque du Soleil. Fosun purchased 28 Liberty Street from JP Morgan Chase in 2013 for $725 million. The company is also planning to co-develop a 47-story luxury tower at 126 Madison Avenue with JD Carlisle Development [TRDataCustom].
Earlier this year, Fosun’s chair Guo Guangchang, often referred to as China’s Warren Buffett, made headlines when he was detained by Chinese authorities to aid with an investigation. At the time, company executives said that the investigation had more to do with Guangchang’s personal affairs than the company. [Bloomberg] — Kathryn Brenzel