Brazil’s Safra banking group and the families of Chinese real estate developer Zhang bought a 40% stake in New York’s General Motors Building for about $1.4 billion, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The stake was bought through an entity called Sungate Trust, owned by the Zhang family, who is the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of Soho China Ltd. (410), the biggest developer in Beijing’s central business district and M. Safra & Co., the New York-based investment firm of the Safra family.
The price paid implies that the 2 million-square-foot tower is valued at about $3.4 billion, the highest total value for a U.S. property since the GM Building sold in 2008.
The sellers were Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s U.S. Real Estate Opportunities Fund, which invests on behalf of the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar; and Meraas Capital LLC, a Dubai-based private-equity firm, the person said. The sale was completed on May 31.
Boston Properties Inc. (BXP) retains a 60% stake in the building and manages it.