HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ING Real
Estate today announced that the ING Real Estate China Opportunity Fund L.P.
("Fund" or "COF") has raised a total of US$350 million from leading
international institutional investors from Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle
East and the US, as well as from high-net worth individuals through ING
Private Banking.
The COF is a private, closed-end, total return fund. Its investment
objective is to invest in opportunistic projects with a focus on mid-range
local housing developments in first and second tier cities in China. The
majority of the Fund's investment activities will be executed through joint
ventures with high quality local Chinese developers with established track
records in China.
To date, the portfolio of the COF comprises a mixed-development joint
venture with Shanghai Forte Land in the Hong Kou district of Shanghai, as
well as two local housing projects in joint venture with Raycom International
in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province in the south of central
China. In addition, a joint venture for a housing development with Gemdale
Corporation in Tianjin is awaiting government approval. Shanghai Forte is
the largest developer in Shanghai and Raycom is the real estate arm of Legend
Holdings that owns the Lenovo/IBM brand of personal computers.
Robert Lie, Chief Executive Officer of ING Real Estate Investment
Management Asia said, "We are very pleased with the response of international
investors to our new fund. It underscores our belief that, despite the
austerity measures announced by the Chinese central government in May and
August of this year, aimed at cooling the real estate market in China, our
strategy of focusing on local housing in first and second tier cities in
China in partnership with local developers is the correct one."
Richard van den Berg, Portfolio Manager and Country Manager China
said, "ING Real Estate has been operating in China for over ten years,
developing a strong track record as well as building a solid local network.
The successful closing of the fund demonstrates our co-investors share ING
Real Estate's confidence and investment approach in the Chinese real estate
market."
ING Real Estate is an international real estate company active in real
estate investment management, development and finance. With a total business
portfolio of US$103 billion as of 30 September, 2006 and offices in 21
markets in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia, ING Real Estate
ranks among the world's strongest real estate companies.
ING Real Estate is part of ING Group, a global financial institution of
Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60
million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50
countries.
