The Hong Kong government has announced that it is looking into the cancellation of sales of Henderson Land apartments, which have pushed down the company’s shares this week.
Henderson Land said earlier that it would record a HK$734-million (S$130 million) loss due to the sales cancellation of 20 luxury units in Hong Kong, adding that this would be reflected in the company’s first-half results.
The cancellation of transactions included a duplex unit that was expected to fetch a record price of about HK$71,280 psf.
“Any fraud or deception in property sales is totally unacceptable,” the HK government said. The government noted that it was concerned after only four out of the 24 announced sales were completed. It stressed that the government would not tolerate “forged non-bona fide transactions”.
Law enforcement and regulatory agencies in the city-state were looking into it and following up on the case.
The company said it would cooperate on the investigations. “We welcome the action and will provide all necessary information because we believe this will help us clarify to the public,” said Bonnie Ngan, a company spokeswoman.
Peter KK Lee, vice- chairman of Henderson Land, said that no more sales cancellations are expected in the coming days.
The sales cancellation has prompted several research houses like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and DBS to either lower their price targets or downgrade the stock.