UK developer-investor Minerva has sold the Ram Brewery development site in London's Wandsworth to Chinese state-owned developer Greenland Group.

UK developer-investor Minerva has sold the Ram Brewery development site in London's Wandsworth to Chinese state-owned developer Greenland Group.

The purchase price was not disclosed but the total investment value of the development is around £600 mln (€721 mln). The transaction represents Greenland’s first acquisition in the UK.

Greenland is one of the biggest developers in the world with around 600 million sq ft (56 million m2) of large-scale commercial and residential projects currently under construction in 80 cities throughout China as well as real estate projects in South Korea, Thailand, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia and New York and Los Angeles in the US.

The 7.75-acre Ram Brewery development is being sold with outline planning permission for 661 new homes, including a 36-storey landmark tower providing 166 flats and 9,500 m2 of commercial space for new shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, complementing the site’s historic buildings which formed the original Young’s brewery.

Minerva originally acquired the historic building in 2006 for redevelopment and secured planning consent in December last year.

'Since acquiring Minerva two years ago, we have worked hard to comprehensively redesign the original scheme. Our strategy had been to implement the scheme ourselves, possibly with a partner, but that changed when Greenland made their unsolicited proposal,' commented Paul Goswell, managing director of Delancey.

'London is the global financial centre as well as the most open and diversified city that enjoys the most mature economic development, making it the first option for our investment in Europe,' said Zhang Yuliang, chairman and president of Greenland Group.

Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills acted on behalf of Minerva.

Greenland’s purchase in London is the latest by a Chinese development company in London. In the past months major Chinese developers like Dalian Wanda and ABP have also bought eye-catching sites in the UK capital.