Asylum jackpot
The three asylum hotels are owned by the firms Kew Green Hotels and Campanile. Kew Green, based in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames, owns and manages more than 60 premises, many under the Holiday Inn brand. The £300M business is ultimately and wholly owned by the Beijing government through its China Tourism Group Corporation, a body set up to promote China to the world.
Of its portfolio, the Holiday Inns in Warrington, Cheshire, and Ashford, Kent, are both block-booked to house asylum seekers and were subjected to protests in August. Analysis of their accounts suggests they have made about £15M from the Home Office contracts.
Kew Green’s three-star hotel in Ashford, a converted 17th-century barn, made profits of £1.4M on revenues of £3M in 2024. The Warrington hotel, a four-star venue billed as a “contemporary hotel … situated central to the hustle and bustle of Liverpool and Manchester”, has generated turnover of £2.7M in the same year.
Campanile, which is owned by the Shanghai municipal people’s government, owns a three-star hotel in Cardiff which has housed asylum seekers since 2022.
In purely financial terms, one of the 
government’s most valuable UK investments is the logistics company Logicor, a crucial cog of the digital economy that owns 176 distribution centers.
About 60% of the company is owned by CIC, the sovereign wealth fund set up in 2007 to generate strong returns for Beijing’s vast foreign exchange reserves. The fund’s investments are scattered around the world with a value of around £1 trillion. CIC is led by Zhang Qingsong, who has spent decades working in senior roles in the Chinese state. He previously served as deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China.
Financial statements published by Logicor show the business paid out £40M to its investors last year and another £18M in February. CIC’s cut of these payments should have been £34.8M, on top of £222M paid out in earlier years.
In addition, the state has bought shares in companies listed on the London stock exchange. Its central bank owns shares in FTSE 100 companies with a combined value of more than £11.9B.
This includes stakes worth £2.1B and £901M in the oil giants Shell and BP as well as a £484M holding in the global mining company Rio Tinto, plus a chunk of the pharmaceutical behemoth AstraZenecaworth £1.1B.
Analysis of shareholder registers by the data provider Argus Vickers reveals the sovereign wealth fund of Hong Kong, subject to China’s rule for 28 years, owns FTSE 100 shares worth nearly £1.5B. The National Council for Social Security Fund and the National Pension Services — both state-owned retirement funds — have holdings worth £287M and £94M in FTSE 100 firms.
Susan Baldry, managing director of Argus Vickers: “Our analysis of shareholder registers shows that shares worth at least £92 billion are now owned by China or Hong Kong-based investors. However, the real number may be even higher.
“That’s because about 300 companies listed on the London stock market, including nine of the FTSE 100, are not domiciled in the UK and therefore do not have to publish a register showing who their owners are. This lack of transparency may present national security and governance risks, particularly when foreign state-linked investors are involved.”
Skyscrapers, schools and sport
Assets worth nearly £139.2B are owned by private companies and people based in China and Hong Kong. Their investments range from vast residential property developments and shopping arcades to video-game studios and pharmaceutical firms.
They also include a stake of about 50% in Clarksshoes, the car brand Lotus, Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey.
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government’s most valuable UK investments is the logistics company Logicor, a crucial cog of the digital economy that owns 176 distribution centers.
About 60% of the company is owned by CIC, the sovereign wealth fund set up in 2007 to generate strong returns for Beijing’s vast foreign exchange reserves. The fund’s investments are scattered around the world with a value of around £1 trillion. CIC is led by Zhang Qingsong, who has spent decades working in senior roles in the Chinese state. He previously served as deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China.
Financial statements published by Logicor show the business paid out £40M to its investors last year and another £18M in February. CIC’s cut of these payments should have been £34.8M, on top of £222M paid out in earlier years.
In addition, the state has bought shares in companies listed on the London stock exchange. Its central bank owns shares in FTSE 100 companies with a combined value of more than £11.9B.
This includes stakes worth £2.1B and £901M in the oil giants Shell and BP as well as a £484M holding in the global mining company Rio Tinto, plus a chunk of the pharmaceutical behemoth AstraZenecaworth £1.1B.
Analysis of shareholder registers by the data provider Argus Vickers reveals the sovereign wealth fund of Hong Kong, subject to China’s rule for 28 years, owns FTSE 100 shares worth nearly £1.5B. The National Council for Social Security Fund and the National Pension Services — both state-owned retirement funds — have holdings worth £287M and £94M in FTSE 100 firms.
Susan Baldry, managing director of Argus Vickers: “Our analysis of shareholder registers shows that shares worth at least £92 billion are now owned by China or Hong Kong-based investors. However, the real number may be even higher.
“That’s because about 300 companies listed on the London stock market, including nine of the FTSE 100, are not domiciled in the UK and therefore do not have to publish a register showing who their owners are. This lack of transparency may present national security and governance risks, particularly when foreign state-linked investors are involved.”
Skyscrapers, schools and sport
Assets worth nearly £139.2B are owned by private companies and people based in China and Hong Kong. Their investments range from vast residential property developments and shopping arcades to video-game studios and pharmaceutical firms.
They also include a stake of about 50% in Clarksshoes, the car brand Lotus, Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey.
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