Savills launches China/Taiwan Desk - Savills hold "China/Taiwan Investment Conference" for cross-strait real estate investment discussions 

July 29 2010, Taipei - International real estate advisor Savills announced today the official launch of the "Savills China/Taiwan Desk" aimed at facilitating bilateral investment across the Taiwan Strait. The "Savills China/Taiwan Investment Conference", held on the same day at the Taipei Grand Hyatt Hotel, invited around 100 Taiwan investors to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the cross-Strait market.

Mr. Randall Hall, CEO of Savills China, Mr. Albert Lau, Executive Director, Mr. Jeffery Jin, Director, Ms. Cynthia Chu, Managing Director of Savills Taiwan, and Mr. Gordon Gao, General Manager of Savills Taiwan, participated in the conference and offered their opinions on the new real estate policies in China, market trends, foreign investment strategies and hot investment destinations. They also answered questions from Taiwan investors on the mainland real estate market and introduced a host of commercial and residential real estate projects.

Since its opening up to mainland investment on June 30 2009, Taiwan has approved 217 mainland-funded projects totaling USD 5.74 billion by June 2010, growing by 174.7% and 195.8% respectively. On the other hand, Taiwan capital has also been active in China ¨C 58 projects totaling USD 7.991 million were invested in the first half of this year, about 75% of which were concentrated in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, and Chongqing.

Mr. Randall Hall, CEO of Savills China, said, "Thanks to the ECFA initiative, cross-strait investment has been continuously active. Today the launch of Savills¡¯ China/Taiwan Desk reinforces our positive view of the future."

Mr. Albert Lau, Executive Director of Savills China further illustrated: "The China/Taiwan Platform will enable us to provide more prompt and comprehensive information to our clients based on our cutting-edge regional network. Although we have just formally announced the launch, we already have several potential investment deals under negotiation. In addition, the ability to cross-refer real estate opportunities to Taiwanese and mainland Chinese investors who require access to real estate in other Asia Pacific property markets will be possible through the extensive Savills¡¯ office network."

This June, Savills Taiwan successfully organized a "Shanghai High-end Property Tour" made up of Taiwanese small-medium business owners. Ms. Cynthia Chu, Managing Director of Savills Taiwan, said: "The program was well received by our clients, and we will in the future organize regular property tours to commercial and high-end residential projects in Chinese investment hotspots to help our clients better understand the real estate investment operations there, and suggest the best project for them."

Savills China/Taiwan Desk will provide services including:

Assisting Mainland / Taiwan investors with valuations and market research of Taiwan / Mainland real estate;

Providing agency services for Mainland / Taiwanese investors who are interested in acquiring Taiwan / Mainland property;

Execution of a marketing strategy for China / Taiwan property in Taiwan / China.