The Link REIT
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The Link REIT (領匯房地產投資信託基金, or 領匯;SEHK: 0823) is one of the world's largest REITs, or real estate investment trusts with assets of around US$3.3 billion. The world's largest REIT is Equity Office Properties Trust, with approximately $25 billion in assets.
The REIT includes 180 properties, primarily shopping malls and carparks, formerly owned by the Hong Kong Housing Authority, a Hong Kong Government agency and was created to privatize the said properties.
[edit] IPO controversy
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The REIT IPO attracted orders equal to 28 times the amount of stock in the real estate trust on offer. About 510,000 Hong Kong residents, or 7% of the city's population, placed US$36 billion of orders while institutional investors were ready to commit US$40 billion.
The IPO's joint global coordinators were Goldman Sachs, HSBC Holdings plc, and UBS AG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the financial adviser to the Housing Authority.
The proposed floatation of the Link REIT by the Housing Authority was derailed by a legal challenge by a public housing tenant, Lo Siu Lan, who challenged the legality of the proposed divestment of the properties. In Hong Kong, the grassroot class often live in public housing; they worried that the Link REIT could not provide the living product in lower prices. Some NGOs also were concerned that privatisation would cut off the income of the Housing Authority and would eventually lead to rising rent for grassroot tenants. The issue brought awareness to Hong Kong residents about the disadvantage of privatisation.
[edit] See also
- Champion REIT
- Securitization (see "government securitization")
- REIT
