CITIC Securities Co., China’s largest brokerage by market value, won regulatory approval to issue the nation’s first real estate investment trust (REIT), Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported yesterday, citing a company document.

    CITIC Securities is seeking to list the REIT, backed by two office buildings worth a combined 5 billion yuan (US$807 million) in Beijing and Shenzhen, on the block trading system of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the newspaper reported.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the private offering in January, the newspaper said. The product is different from REITS traded overseas, which are sold and traded publicly, it said.

    The private REIT project aims to capitalize on CITIC Securities’ fixed assets through securitization, president Cheng Boming said in a November speech.

    China may allow REITs as part of a loosening of policies on property financing, China Securities Journal reported Sept. 17. The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved last month new-stock sales by two developers, the first the government has allowed by property companies in about four years.

    UBS Global Asset Management (China) Ltd. said in August it started a fund that invests in Shanghai’s public rental homes, the first investment product of its kind in China. The fund will convert into a publicly listed REIT in China when the regulator allows it. (SD-Agencies)