Sunac buys Legend's property assets for $2.1b

Sunac China Holdings Ltd plans to buy property assets including debt from Legend Holdings Corp for about 13.8 billion yuan ($2.1 billion).

After the transactions are completed, Sunac will hold stakes in companies that mainly own interests in 42 property projects in 16 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hangzhou, the companies said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Sunday. The sites have a total gross floor area of about 18 million square meters.

Sunac said the acquisition supports its strategy to increase its land bank and market share in first- and second-tier cities. Sunac, which is based in the northern city of Tianjin, has long focused on the biggest cities but has been entering more second-tier cities since last year.

Selling its property assets will enable Legend to focus on sectors such as financial services, health care and agriculture, according to the statement. The holding company generated 3.3 percent of its sales in the six months to June from its property business, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.