A US-based church suing a top Hong Kong school is “not looking to sell or redevelop” seven local properties it owns with an estimated value of nearly HK$1 billion (US$127 million), insisting it intends to make a “significant investment” in the city through a new institution.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) told the Post on Saturday that it was in a “comfortable financial position”, despite expressing concerns last month about a “significantly deepening deficit” based on multi-year projections.

The missionary group, which is taking legal action against Hong Kong International School (HKIS) for allegedly breaching their operating agreement, has seven properties across the city, with their estimated value derived from Post calculations.

The church, which co-founded HKIS in 1966, earlier sued Hong Kong International School Association Limited (HKISAL) for allegedly violating the operating agreement by serving only the “rich and privileged few” and amassing excessive financial reserves.

It is threatening to evict the school from its Repulse Bay and Tai Tam campuses and create a new private institution in its place.

In 2019, the US church sold three properties in the city for a combined US$22 million to pay debts in the United States, according to its official media platform.