JD Property, the unlisted infrastructure investment and asset management platform of JD.com, is setting up the Reit with Swiss investment firm Partners Group and EZA Hill Property, which is backed by Asian investment firm Hillhouse, the sources said.
The planned Reit could be listed on the Singapore Exchange as soon as next year, added the sources, who declined to be named as the matter is private. The Reit plan has not been reported previously.
If successful, the JD Property-backed REIT would be one of the largest new entrants in Singapore’s Reit space in more than a year, signalling growing confidence in the sector and underscoring the increasing role of Chinese capital in Southeast Asia.
The setting up of the planned Reit comes after JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill jointly bought four logistics assets from CapitaLand Ascendas Reit for S$306 million (US$238.56 million) this month, the sources said.
The three investors are currently finalising the Reit’s asset composition, which is expected to include industrial properties in Singapore that the consortium acquired from CapitaLand, they added.
JD.com, JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. CapitaLand declined to identify the purchaser of the logistics assets.