CapitaLand, CITIC set up China real estate fund

CITIC CapitalLand Business Park Fund has closed on $72.5m, having raised money from domestic Chinese institutional investors. It is the first private equity real estate fund to be denominated in Yuan.

Southeast Asia’s largest property developer CapitaLand and CITIC Trust, China’s largest trust company, have teamed up to launch the first yuan-denominated private equity real estate fund in China.

The 500 million yuan ($72.5 million, €46.5 million) CITIC CapitaLand Business Park fund will invest in on the mainland. It has now held a final close and will be CapitaLand’s seventh fund for China, though it is its first to invest in business parks. It will be jointly managed by the two companies. CapitaLand has 50 per cent sponsor stake, and local Chinese institutional investors and high net worth individuals own the remaining interest.

The fund will invest in CapitaLand's business park in Beijing called the IBM China Centre, a Grade A low-rise development with a net lettable area of 19,272 square meters.

CapitalLand's most receny China property fund was closed in September 2007, having raised S$900 million ($600 million, €439 million). That fund will invest in retail mall development projects in China. Capitaland will hold a 45 percent stake in that fund, and the remainder will be held by LPs.

CITIC Trust is a division of the CITIC Group, formerly known as the China International Trust and Investment Company. It is a state-owned investment company established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping. It now owns 44 subsidiaries, mainly banks, in China, Hong Kong, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.