Hong Kong Economic Times reports that the 9,821 square foot house was sold at a price of around HK$163,000 per square foot – the second highest value per square foot for a house in Hong Kong.
The house lies on Repulse Bay Road and is in one of the most valuable areas of the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. Suen’s new next-door neighbours will include Larry Yung Chi-kin, who is one of the wealthiest men in China with a reported net worth of around US$2.9billion in 2013.
Checks into Hong Kong Land Registry and Company Registry made by this website show that Suen bought the holding company that own the property rather than the property himself, saving himself a large amount in property taxes.
Why does this matter to Birmingham City?
The recent crackdown by the Chinese government has led to a lot of Chinese investors struggling to get money out of the mainland and has led to some high profile sales within football – for example Wanda’s sale of their stake in Atletico Madrid.
However, Suen has been able to buy this house via a large scale purchase of a company based in the Cayman Islands which points to significant offshore cash reserves.
In turn, this means that there should be money available to Suen to put into BCFC should he want to without the Chinese government being able to stop him.
Of course, the key words in that sentence are “should he want to” – however I will say here and now I’m happier that there is proof Suen has significant money abroad.
Furthermore, a purchase like this is very high profile.
Suen has never been interviewed by the media or photographed online and there is an outside chance with purchases like this that these facts will change – either due to an increased interest him by the media or a will to come out more into the open.
The more likely he is to be interviewed by the press, the more likely we can get an idea of Suen’s plans for both Birmingham City and Birmingham Sports Holdings without having to speculate based on the action of other external forces.