Billionaire Lin Chen-Hai Buys Hotel, Retail Complex In Australia For $250 Million
Forest Endeavour—controlled by Taiwanese billionaire Lin Chen-hai—has acquired the Paradise Centre and Novotel Surfers Paradise on Queensland’s Gold Coast for A$346.5 million ($250 million), betting on one of Australia’s top tourist destinations.
The mixed-use hotel and retail property was acquired from Abu Dhabi Investment Corp. and Challenger Life which held a bidding for the asset, real estate consultant JLL, which handled the sale with McVay Real Estate, said in a statement. This is the largest transaction for a combined hotel and retail complex in Queensland, according to JLL.
“Mixed-use assets of this scale and quality rarely come to market in Australia,” said Nick Willis, executive director of JLL Retail Investments Australia & New Zealand. “The combination of a dominant retail and entertainment precinct with a major hotel in such a strategic location is genuinely unique.”
With a real-time net worth of $4.2 billion, Lin is one of the wealthiest tycoons in Taiwan, according to Forbes data. He built his fortune by developing affordable housing for Taiwan's middle class through his privately held Pau Jar Group. An early push overseas landed him in Australia’s hot and growing real estate market.
By Ian Sayson