On a mission to shrink its international footprint and contain debt, the conglomerate has sold off property holdings in what was a key European base
Key Takeaways:
- The building units in a Lisbon urban renewal project were sold to the Portuguese central bank for around 190 million euros
- Last year Fosun International spent 11.1 billion yuan on maturing bond payments
By Lee Shih Ta
More than a decade ago, Fosun International (0656.HK) used Portugal as a springboard for an overseas expansion strategy. Since then, the sprawling conglomerate has reversed course and its now chipping away at the onetime European hub of its global ambitions.
After progressively shedding non-essential assets to shore up its finances, the company has now sealed a deal to offload some of its interests in a business, retail and residential complex to be built in the heart of Lisbon.
This latest in a spate of Fosun divestments, announced on Tuesday, covers rights over units in two planned buildings in Lisbon’s Entrecampos project. The conglomerate said the assets have been sold to Banco de Portugal, the country’s central bank, for a base sum of 192,000 million euros, equivalent to around $218,000 million or 1.58 billion yuan.
The Lisbon city center site is being redeveloped as part of an ambitious urban renewal project headed up by the property arm of Portuguese insurer Fidelidade, in which Fosun International holds a controlling stake.
The assets involved in the transaction are part of a complex of six buildings accounting for around 19% of the expected construction area of the entire Entrecampos project.
Reducing real estate risks
In 2018, Fidelidade obtained multiple parcels of land from Lisbon’s city authorities for around 274 million euros, covering a development area of around 25 hectares. The investment to develop the site was projected at between 750 million and 800 million euros, with plans to build around 900 housing units including 279 for sale and the rest earmarked as affordable rentals.
The complex, scheduled for completion in the second half of 2027, is also due to include offices, shops, restaurants and green space.
The company said the disposal would reduce risk exposure to the real estate business and help it to manage uncertainties on several fronts. Identifying prestigious occupiers of signature buildings enhanced the credibility of the project, while a reduction in lettable office space would mitigate leasing risk, Fosun International said. Proceeds of the sale would be used to replenish general operating funds.
Portugal has long been a linchpin in the company’s expansion strategy. In 2014, Fosun International secured a controlling stake in insurer Fidelidade for 1 billion euros, and later came into possession of Portuguese private healthcare group Luz Saúde for 860 million euros. It also became a majority shareholder in Banco Comercial Português (BCP) for 175 million euros, pursuing a three-pronged strategy of building an insurance, healthcare and banking portfolio as a beachhead for a push into international markets.
However, the company started to scale back its reach in 2022, selling non-core assets and reversing some international investments to reduce its debt burden.
In January 2024, Fosun International sold 5.6% of Portuguese commercial bank Millennium BCP for 235 million euros, while retaining a stake of more than 20%. In May last year, a stake of around 99.74% held by a Fosun subsidiary in Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe (HAL), a German private bank, was sold to ABN Amro Bank for around 670 million euros. In July, a ski resort in northern Japan, Hoshino Tomamu, was sold off to Japanese real estate investment company YCH16 for around 40.8 billion yen ($280 million).
Sweeping sell-off over three years
Last year alone, divestment deals amounting to around 17.5 billion yuan were signed at the group level, and 30 billion yuan at the consolidated level, according to Fosun International’s annual results released at the end of March. The company divested around 75 billion yuan between 2022 and 2024. Meanwhile, it paid bond holders 11.1 billion yuan last year on matured debt instruments in onshore and offshore markets.
Total liabilities at the end of 2024 edged up 1% to 214.1 billion yuan from a year earlier and the ratio of total liabilities to capital rose from 50% at the end of 2023 to 52%. But cash reserves increased by 13.88 billion yuan to 106.34 billion yuan. The company vowed to bring its interest-bearing liabilities attributable to the group down to around 50 billion yuan in one to two years’ time.
Fosun International’s revenue fell 3.1% last year to 192.14 billion yuan, while industrial operating profit totaled 4.9 billion yuan. The company made a loss of 4.35 billion yuan, mainly due to a book-value impairment of 5.1 billion yuan arising from Alibaba’s repurchase of shares in logistics network Cainiao at a low price. Excluding that deal, it would have achieved a profit of 750 million yuan. Thus, the numbers on paper do not do justice to its operating performance.
The company completed a buyout of the Fosun Tourism business last year, but a similar move to take control of its partially owned subsidiary Shanghai Henlius Biotech（2696.HK）was thwarted by minority shareholders. In an earnings call, Chairman Guo Guangchang painted the failed plan as a shareholder vote of confidence in the future of the biopharma firm within the Fosun group.
Guo said the company had exited asset-heavy projects and moved instead into innovative industries “with great promise and broad prospects for growth”. Fosun Pharma (2196.HK）acquired another 3.9% of Henlius Biotech shares in mid-April, bringing its total holdings to 63.43%.
Currently, Fosun International is trading around a 52-week low of HK $4.15 per share, having fallen around 8.8% so far this year, leaving its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio languishing at 4.33 times. With the divestment strategy continuing apace, and the debt situation improving, there could be some upside potential.
