The Chow brothers – famous for their brothels and, most recently, fast-growing property portfolio – have signed a partnership with China’s third biggest construction company.
John Chow of Chow Group has signed a partnership agreement in Beijing with corporate giant Zhong Tai Construction Group, which has 80,000 staff.
The Chows head a $200 million property portfolio in Wellington and Auckland and have just announced a major purchase in Rotorua.
They have bought the Zen office building from an Auckland property investors and are planning on turning it into a 150-room four star hotel. When complete it will be managed by a hotel chain.
The deal follows the opening of Park Ave Residence in Otahuhu, Auckland and adds to the brothers’ property portfolio, which includes The Mermaid strip club in Auckland and Capital Market food court in Wellington.
“We are in growth mode and we don’t want to be slowed down by the lack of construction resources in New Zealand so we are thinking globally,” says John Chow.
“For us boys from Naenae the sheer scale and pace of construction in China is amazing and we want to bring a bit of that large-scale thinking into our construction plans for New Zealand.
He says the company will think locally first, anyway and “If supply cannot keep up with us then we will be looking to our partners at Zhong Tai to keep us growing at the fast pace we set ourselves.”
The brothers have also recently launched a litigation business – Tempest Litigation Funders.
They have teamed up with liquidators Damien Grant and Stephen Khov, who they met while they were on opposite sites in a liquidation case.
Tempest will focus on claims of between $500,000 and $2 million.
At the time of the launch John Chow said he and his brother Michael’s tough business reputations would be useful in the adversarial world of litigation.