Cairns finance company sold
CAIRNS finance, investment and development company LHL Group has sold to Hong Kong private equity company Capital Globe.
Capital Globe has been a minority partner in LHL and has major stakes in Cairns with a planned 14-storey office tower - Cairns Global Tower - opposite the convention centre, the expansive North Point housing and light industrial estate and Bluewater.
Capital also has plans for a hotel on land next to the Global tower site.
Neither Mr Williams nor Wegland Lao, Capital Globe's Australian operations CEO, would give any details of the size of the deal.
Mr Williams, however, revealed a recent audit of the value of two parts of the LHL Group – North Point and LHL Investments - was close to $100 million.
Capital Globe says it will release a statement next week but Mr Williams said he and his wife Erina - who established the company as Local Home Loans in 1995 - decided it was "time to take it easy after a very hectic few years" in building the company, its portfolio and profile.
The deal involves all aspects of the LHL operation – LHL Lending, LHL Realty and LHL Finance.
Mr Williams said Capital Globe would inject more capital funds into the company which would continue to trade under the LHL name, something he said had developed into a "very strong trading name".
Mr Williams said Capital Globe would retain LHL’s key staff.
Capital Globe made its first mark in Cairns when it paid a then record price of $5.5 million for the Kewarra Beach mansion of Christian Ainsworth, son of poker machine king Len Ainsworth.
It has established the mansion as its corporate residence.
Capital Globe has a solid presence in the Sydney property market and its corporate profile includes shipping and transport and food and beverage.
It is a strategic shareholder of Sun Valley Group Ltd (Bahamas), which owns the rights of Avenue A Pizza New York worldwide.




