city developments ltd cdl—controlled by billionaire kwek leng beng—said late monday it’s in talks to buy the historic st katharine docks skd residential and commercial complex in london from us private equity giant blackstone “the company is always examining opportunities to improve shareholder value and the skd acquisition is one such opportunity” the company said in a statement to the singapore exchange cdl said it has signed an exclusive nonbinding agreement with the property’s seller subject to due diligence and negotiation of the terms of the deal faced with redemption requests from its property funds blackstone is seeking to sell the property near the tower of london for £400 million 496 million according to a report by costar city developments didn’t comment on the reported price tag “the company wishes to emphasize that there’s no certainty that the skd acquisition will materialize” cdl said adding shareholders should exercise caution when dealing in the company’s shares first opened in the 1820s the st katharine docks complex currently comprises more than 500000 square feet 46450 square meters of office space 400 residential units and a marina with berths for up to 185 yachts the property is also surrounded by shops restaurants and recreational facilities city developments has in recent years been stepping up investments in the uk where it owns a portfolio of commercial properties including an office building housing hsbc’s headquarters in london it had planned to inject the assets into a real estate investment trust that was supposed to list in singapore but the ipo was delayed amid heightened market volatility and macroeconomic headwinds kwek is the chairman of cdl and singapore’s hong leong group which was founded by his father in 1941 his cousin quek leng chan also a billionaire runs a separate group in malaysia also called hong leong with a net worth of 93 billion that he shares with his family kwek 81 was ranked no 5 on the list of singapore’s 50 richest that was published in september