Little-known businesswoman Alice Minying Wu made headlines when we learned earlier this month that she was co-owner of the massive property that was sold to Northvolt for a record $240 million. But this wasn’t her first outburst.
• Also read: Property sold to Northvolt for $240 million: “It’s like winning at Loto-Québec”
• Also read: Northvolt: Quebec postpones its information sessions with citizens
• Also read: Fitzgibbon believes Northvolt is “the most beautiful private project” in Quebec’s history
In March 2022, the company she founded in 2006, Groupe Boda (formerly Broad), sold 355,000 square meters of land in Brossard for almost $55 million. Boda had paid less than $3.7 million for him nine years earlier. Annualized return, excluding fees: 35%.
“Groupe Boda has been working on the pre-development of this property for eight years and has succeeded in obtaining a zoning change in order to be able to carry out a high-density project there. The REM [train léger] “There was also construction nearby, which made this land extremely attractive,” explains Marie Sara Hamel, vice president of Boda.
Boda Group LinkedIn page
Teachers through training
Nothing predestined Ms. Wu, now 55, to become one of the most powerful women in real estate on Montreal’s South Shore.
“I came to Quebec out of love and in return all Quebecers have shown me a lot of love and support. I became one of them,” she says in a telephone interview with Le Journal, during which she alternated between French and English.
Alice Wu was born in China and immigrated to Montreal in 1991 to join her future husband Danny Huang, who had lived here since 1986 and studied at Concordia University.
Ms. Wu earned a master’s degree in educational management from McGill University. While in school, she gave birth to her first son while working part-time at a supermarket with her husband.
She then worked as a secretary in an immigration law firm before setting up her own consulting firm in this area.
It was her husband, who was then working as a real estate agent, who got her interested in the industry and then founded Groupe Boda.
Friend of Guy St-Jacques
Guy St-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, knew Danny Huang in Beijing and befriended the couple after his return to Quebec.
Mr. St-Jacques points out that Mr. Huang is president of the Jiu Ding Foundation, which provides scholarships to Canadian students of Chinese origin.
The organization’s vice president is Yuhong (Henry) Liu, who has been the vice president of Power Corporation since 2011.
Alice Wu with her husband Danny Huang and their son Frank. Photo from Frank Huang’s LinkedIn page
Sino-Quebec investors
Boda can count on the support of investors of Chinese origin for most of its projects.
“I have Chinese partners, but they are Quebecers and live in the Montreal region,” explains Alice Wu.
Over the years, Boda acquired several million square meters of land. The group has completed construction of five residential projects, sold three and is in the process of developing six more.
Boda also owns five commercial buildings, a horse farm in Carignan, a golf course in Lachute and another in Candiac, which she wants to convert into a residential project.
Given the Metropolitan Community of Montreal’s desire to convert this latter property into a park, Boda filed a lawsuit for more than $69 million against the city of Candiac, La Presse revealed in May.
In any case, Ms. Wu is pleased that the vast land she and her partners sold to Northvolt is preparing to host the battery industry’s flagship project in Quebec.
“We are so proud to be able to play a role in the economic development of Quebec,” she says. We will see that this will bring many great things to this region. We are very happy and can’t wait to see everything.”
The land was sold to Northvolt
- Sales price (2023): $240 million ($13 per square foot)
- Purchase price (2015): $20 million
- Area: 18.5 million square feet
- Sellers: a group consisting of Luc Poirier, Serge Gariépy, Alice Wu and other investors
–With Philippe Langlois, QMI Agency
Can you share information about this story?
Write to us or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.