Chinese interests own more than £190B in British companies and property and Beijing is making millions a year from asylum hotels.
Organizations linked to the CCP own 3 hotels block-booked for migrants, netting them at least £15M in Home Office contracts.
They are just some of the 442 UK assets owned by private individuals and firms from China and Hong Kong, as well as state-backed organizations.
Their value has risen to £190B from £134B in 2021 and £152B in 2023. Some of the long-held investments — which range from nuclear power stations and water companies — have shot up in value, while others have been newly bought or uncovered.
Of the total, about £51.3B of assets are owned by organisations linked to the 
government, including the former site of the Royal Mint in London, which is earmarked for China’s new embassy.
The Chinese own:
Large tracts of UK’s national infrastructure including stakes in Heathrow airport, water companies, wind farms and power networks.
28 independent schools including Plymouth College, once attended by the Olympic champion Tom Daley, and the 741-year-old Ruthin School in north Wales.
A giant warehouse group that has paid the Chinese state about £250M in dividends.
£92.4B of shares in FTSE-listed companies.
The acquisitions of business do not merely give the government power, they also deliver handsome returns for Xi Jinping’s regime through rising asset values and dividends.
The £51.3B in assets owned by the state include:
Hinkley Point C: The state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) owns 27.4% of the nuclear power station under construction on the Somerset coastline. Although the project’s costs have ballooned to £48B, CGN has been reluctant to inject more investment after being frozen out of other nuclear projects by the British government on national security grounds. CGN’s Hinkley Point C stake is worth £13.2B — making it Beijing’s most valuable UK investment.
Heathrow: The China Investment Corporation (CIC), Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, owns 8.7% of the UK’s busiest airport. Heathrow’s latest official valuation suggests this stake is worth more than £2B — an increase of more than £400M since 2023.
Thames Water: CIC’s 9% stake in Thames Water has a value of £1.8B, according to the utility’s latest accounts. The CIC also owns a 10.5% holding in Cadent Gas worth £1.3B.
UPP: One of the UK’s largest developers of university accommodation, this London-based property firm is 40%-owned by an arm of China’s central bank called the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). UPP, which has developments at universities including London, Exeter and Nottingham, owns property with a value of almost £1.6B. SAFE’s subsidiary Gingko Tree Investment has a stake in UPP worth £632M and holdings in shopping centres in York and Leicester.
London property: The Beijing government spent £255M to buy Royal Mint Court and intends to build a new embassy on the five-and-a-half-acre site. Steve Reed, the housing secretary, was expected to announce this month whether the scheme would be approved but the decision has been pushed back to Dec. Elsewhere in the capital, arms of the Beijing state own office blocks, residential developments and other property worth more than £2B.
Inch Cape Offshore wind farm: With more than 70 turbines, this project is expected to generate enough energy to power more than half of Scotland’s homes when it is completed in 2027. Inch Cape is 50%-owned by State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), another arm of the state. SDIC’s stake in the project is worth £1.75B. At least seven other onshore and offshore wind farms in England and Scotland are part-owned by wings of the Beijing government.
1/n
thetimes.com/article/662227
government, including the former site of the Royal Mint in London, which is earmarked for China’s new embassy.
The Chinese own:
Large tracts of UK’s national infrastructure including stakes in Heathrow airport, water companies, wind farms and power networks.
28 independent schools including Plymouth College, once attended by the Olympic champion Tom Daley, and the 741-year-old Ruthin School in north Wales.
A giant warehouse group that has paid the Chinese state about £250M in dividends.
£92.4B of shares in FTSE-listed companies.
The acquisitions of business do not merely give the government power, they also deliver handsome returns for Xi Jinping’s regime through rising asset values and dividends.
The £51.3B in assets owned by the state include:
Hinkley Point C: The state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) owns 27.4% of the nuclear power station under construction on the Somerset coastline. Although the project’s costs have ballooned to £48B, CGN has been reluctant to inject more investment after being frozen out of other nuclear projects by the British government on national security grounds. CGN’s Hinkley Point C stake is worth £13.2B — making it Beijing’s most valuable UK investment.
Heathrow: The China Investment Corporation (CIC), Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, owns 8.7% of the UK’s busiest airport. Heathrow’s latest official valuation suggests this stake is worth more than £2B — an increase of more than £400M since 2023.
Thames Water: CIC’s 9% stake in Thames Water has a value of £1.8B, according to the utility’s latest accounts. The CIC also owns a 10.5% holding in Cadent Gas worth £1.3B.
UPP: One of the UK’s largest developers of university accommodation, this London-based property firm is 40%-owned by an arm of China’s central bank called the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). UPP, which has developments at universities including London, Exeter and Nottingham, owns property with a value of almost £1.6B. SAFE’s subsidiary Gingko Tree Investment has a stake in UPP worth £632M and holdings in shopping centres in York and Leicester.
London property: The Beijing government spent £255M to buy Royal Mint Court and intends to build a new embassy on the five-and-a-half-acre site. Steve Reed, the housing secretary, was expected to announce this month whether the scheme would be approved but the decision has been pushed back to Dec. Elsewhere in the capital, arms of the Beijing state own office blocks, residential developments and other property worth more than £2B.
Inch Cape Offshore wind farm: With more than 70 turbines, this project is expected to generate enough energy to power more than half of Scotland’s homes when it is completed in 2027. Inch Cape is 50%-owned by State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), another arm of the state. SDIC’s stake in the project is worth £1.75B. At least seven other onshore and offshore wind farms in England and Scotland are part-owned by wings of the Beijing government.
1/n
thetimes.com/article/662227