Ascendas Group is considering listing a yuan-denominated real estate investment trust as a way of exiting some of its property funds, its chief executive Chong Siak Ching said yesterday.
A yuan REIT is “one of the options, and I’m sure many people are also looking at that as an opportunity”, she said.
The group is also open to other options apart from a yuan REIT, with China, Hong Kong or Singapore being potential listing locations, Ms Chong said. She did not indicate an amount or a time frame for the possible listing.
Such a move could capitalise on growing demand for offshore yuan investment products, as investors bet on the appreciation of the Chinese currency following China’s easing of some restrictions on capital controls in Hong Kong last year.
Ascendas owns a portfolio of industrial and commercial properties across Asia, and has six private equity funds invested in China, India, South Korea and South-east Asia.
Earlier this year, people familiar with the situation said Ascendas planned to list property assets in China via a yuan REIT in Hong Kong in the second half of the year. The size of the IPO will be less than US$1 billion (S$1.22 billion), the sources said.
Source : Today – 20 Jul 2011