Ascendas to invest $924m in Chinese property

The Singapore-based property developer has set up two private equity real estate funds in China totaling 7 billion yuan, official Chinese media has reported.

Singapore business park developer Ascendas has set up two real estate funds in China totaling 7 billion yuan ($924 million; €669 million), the Chinese government’s Caijing magazine reported this week.

According to the report, the Ascendas group holds 30 percent of the funds. The remainder will be held by institutional investors from Singapore and elsewhere. The two vehicles will be five-year, closed-end funds.

The first fund, Ascendas China Industrial & Business Parks Fund, is expected to invest up to 3 billion yuan in industrial and business park assets, focusing on light industrial and logistics facilities across China. The fund will launch with buildings in the Suzhou Industrial Park, a China-Singapore partnership project located in the south of China.

The second fund, Ascendas China Commercial Fund, will invest 4 billion yuan in commercial properties in first-tier Chinese cities. It will start with Ascendas Ocean Towers, a 25-story, Grade A commercial office building in Shanghai.

Chong Siak Ching, the company’s president and CEO, told the magazine that Ascendas plans to more than triple its investment in the Chinese mainland in the next five years, totaling $1.6 billion by that time. This would be an increase from the company’s original target of $1.4 billion.