Battersea owners double their money

The Hong Kong businessman Victor Hwang yesterday doubled his money after selling Battersea Power Station for £400m.

Mr Hwang sold the site to Real Estate Opportunities, the investment trust controlled by Irish property magnates John Ronan and Richard Barrett through their company Treasury Holdings. They will now take on the £2bn cost of redeveloping the site which has been unused since electricity generation stopped in 1982.

Mr Hwang reportedly paid just £10m for his initial interest, but the investment grew to £200m as further land was added and millions were spent on consultants as proposals to turn it into a massive leisure development became bogged down in hugely expensive planning rows.

He will still retain an interest in its future because £150m of the purchase price is in loan notes, which are convertible into REO shares and could ultimately give a 10 per cent stake.

The sale comes just a week after his company, Oriental Holdings, was finally granted planning permission to redevelop the site. However, the new owners could yet try to alter the permissions available, a move that is likely to spark concern with Wandsworth Council, which wants the derelict site redeveloped.

Rod Davis, development director for Treasury Holdings, said: "We have read about the history, but we are just at the point of understanding the detail (of the permissions). All we can say is that the project will be based on a mixed use development."

The current approval is for a combination of leisure and retail development including two hotels, conference facilities, offices and 750 apartments.

The news also caps a remarkable turnaround for REO, once mired in the split-capital investment trust scandal which resulted in an ongoing messy battle with former manager Aberdeen Asset Management. The shares closed yesterday up 1.75p at 117.5p, more than 10 times their low in 2003.