(Yicai Global) Nov. 10 -- A unit of US investment management firm Blackstone Group will buy a majority stake in a logistics park at the Guangzhou International Airport that belongs to cash-strapped R&F Properties for CNY4.41 billion (USD668 million), the Chinese property developer said yesterday.

The deal will see Sonic Holdings take 70 percent equity in the Guangzhou International Airport R&F Integrated Logistics Park and R&F will keep the remainder, it added.

The money will be used to lower the Guangzhou-based firm’s debt-to asset ratio and help supplement working capital, it said. The developer had debts of CNY187.7 billion (USD28.4 billion) as of June 30 and only CNY36 billion (USD5.4 billion) in cash, far from enough to cover its short-term debts, the company said in its interim earnings report.

A sluggish real estate market has made it difficult for R&F to drum up extra cash. Sales were down 3.71 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year to CNY102.7 billion (USD15.5 billion).

The partnership with the world’s biggest commercial landlord, New York-based Blackstone, will also improve the firm’s image and help with the business development of the property, R&F said.

The 1.42 million square meter park offers warehousing and cold storage facilities to high-profile clients including e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holdings’ logistics arm Cainiao Network, online shopping giant JD.com, courier service SF Express as well as foreign pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor