McDonald’s Corp has sold a shop in Yuen Long via public tender for HK$77.4 million (US$9.9 million), the fast-food chain’s first since it announced an asset-disposal plan in July.
The three-storey, 9,695 sq ft property in Yuen Long Trade Centre was handed over to the buyer, Acc Investment, on Monday, according to data from the Land Registry.
McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sale fetched the company more than eight times its investment of HK$9.3 million in 1987.
McDonald’s Restaurants (Hong Kong) renewed a 20-year lease for the shop in 2016, with the company said to be paying a monthly rent of HK$460,000, according to official data and local media reports.
In late July, the Chicago-based group announced the sale of eight Hong Kong retail properties – valued at an estimated HK$1.2 billion – giving investors a rare opportunity to own fully tenanted assets amid a review of its local real estate portfolio.
It appointed JLL as the sole agent to find buyers for its assets in Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, Kennedy Town, Tai Kok Tsui, Yuen Long, Tsuen Wan and Tsz Wan Shan. The public tender closed on September 16.
JLL did not disclose the offers it had received so far.
The properties ranged from 6,800 sq ft to 19,000 sq ft, which might be sold individually or as a portfolio, JLL said.
Among the more prominent locations were the Yee Wo outlet in the Causeway Bay shopping district, as well as the ground floor and basement of Star House on Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was the largest property in the portfolio, JLL said.
They feature prominent signage and wide shop fronts, “ensuring high visibility and strong customer traffic”, the agent added.
McDonald’s said it would continue to operate its restaurants in these eight locations on long-term leases. Some of the properties would be sold with additional tenancies involving 7-Eleven convenience stores and independent pharmacies, it added.
The sale comes as the American chain celebrates 50 years in Hong Kong. The firm opened its first restaurant on Paterson Street in Causeway Bay in January 1975 and sold its first one million hamburgers in 1977. The group currently operates 265 outlets across the city, according to its website.
Hong Kong’s total retail sales jumped 5.9 per cent to HK$31.3 billion in September, according to the latest data from the Census and Statistics Department. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
