The house at 12 Pollock's Path on The Peak in Hong Kong, where HSBC's Taipan House once stood in the 1970s, has a panoramic view of the city's skyline and the Victoria Harbour.
The 5,711 sq ft property, reachable from the city's financial district by a 20-minute winding car ride, is a rare asset that analysts typically called "diamond-grade". It also sits on the edge of a cliff which, as history suggests, the owner will need more than just money to buy it.
"People say it is at a quite steep position on The Peak," said Louis Ho, principal sales director at Centaline Property Agency. In feng shui or Chinese geomancy, "the owners or buyers need to be very strong [with their fates] to take it."
The current owner is 58-year-old actor and filmmaker Stephen Chow, dubbed Hong Kong's King of Comedy for his prolific reels of slapstick films, and director of 2004 blockbuster Kung Fu Hustle. Chow has also just mortgaged the property for an undisclosed amount of loan from JPMorgan Chase, according to the Land Registry.
The opulent Skyhigh, once the residence of former HSBC chairmen, stands at The Peak's highest point. Photo: SCMP alt=The opulent Skyhigh, once the residence of former HSBC chairmen, stands at The Peak's highest point. Photo: SCMP
Chow has never put it up on the market, at least according to official records. There is also no evidence he is facing any cash crunch. He did not reply to messages left for him at Bingo Group, his listed movie production company where he is known as Chiau Sing-chi.
JPMorgan also did not reply to a request for comment.
The property, worth more than HK$1 billion (US$129 million) by one estimate, has a storied past as the city went through several financial crises. The Asian currency meltdown in 1997, the Sars outbreak in 2003 and the global financial crisis in 2008 also broke many previous owners of the address.
Built on the instructions of former HSBC chairman Michael Sandberg in the 1970s, the Taipan House became the official residence of his successors until the lender sold it in 1991 for HK$85 million to Kazuo Wada, the Japanese tycoon behind Yaohan department store chain.
Wada sold it in 1996 for HK$370 million to Pearl Oriental Holdings, now known as Silk Road Logistics Holdings, when his business empire collapsed.
Pearl Oriental demolished the house in 1997 to make way for five units of luxury houses, a plan that quickly unravelled during the Asian financial crisis when the asset was seized by creditor banks.
William Purves, former chairman of HSBC. Photo: SCMP alt=William Purves, former chairman of HSBC. Photo: SCMP
Chow teamed up with Ryoden Development to buy the plot from the creditors in 2004 for HK$320 million, and built four houses on it known today as 10, 12, 16 and 18 Pollock's Path.
Stephen Sy Chin-mong, former chairman of Bel Global Resources Holdings, picked up No 16 for HK$380 million or HK$52,566 per square foot in 2008, then billed as the third most-expensive home in Asia. Sy walked away from it when the global financial crisis hit.
Eagle Bright Properties, with French and British businessmen Bernard Charles Castanet and Nicholas James Fallows on board, acquired it for HK$350 million the following year.
Stephen Sy, former chairman of Bel Global Resources. Photo: SCMP alt=Stephen Sy, former chairman of Bel Global Resources. Photo: SCMP
Taiwanese businessman Raymond Chu Wai-hang, now chairman and executive director of Hong Kong-listed Wise Ally, bought No 18 in 2009 for HK$300 million. Tsui Shui-suen, who founded Chengdu Songbai Xiantai Cemetery, bought No 10 for HK$800 million in 2011.
"Only very few such luxury houses ever come up for sale," Centaline's Ho said. "They are rare and regarded as the best in quality. We describe them as diamond-grade. Most [owners] are not short of money."
Other property owners around Chow's address include HSBC, the family of the late tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung, and Yeung Kin-man, the founder and chief executive of iPhone LCD screen maker Biel Crystal Manufactory.
The mortgage on Chow's property evokes curiosity, said Eric Tso, senior vice-president at mReferral Mortgage Brokerage Services. JP Morgan "seldom" does mortgages because it is not their major business, he added.
Chow may be a client of the bank and it was done as part of his investment plan, Tso speculated, adding the mortgage rate is probably not very different from the market rate. "Private banking has high flexibility."
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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