Paul Wight’s Pradera is to open a Hong Kong office to coincide with the launch of its China Retail Fund.
The out-of-town retail specialist is to focus on the shopping centre market in China and will move into the office in April.
Starting with shopping centre triple
The company is in exclusive negotiations with a developer to buy three regional shopping centres when they are completed. The centres have a completion value of $1bn (£496m).
The fund will have the same structure as Pradera’s other funds – the Pradera European Retail Fund, Pradera European Retail Fund 2 and Pradera Central & Eastern Fund.
Internal moves
Two of Pradera’s four executive directors, David Fletcher and Simone Asser, will move into the Hong Kong office in April.
Fletcher will become managing director of Pradera Asia. Asser will retain her role as group finance director while taking on fund management responsibility in Asia.
Pradera aims to expand the office to carry out the same functions in Asia as the UK headquarters does for Europe.
It also intends to open an asset management office in China before the end of 2009 – when the first shopping centre it is hoping to buy is completed.
