Roundtable Session of the 2021 SSE International Investor Conference: Guests Talk about the Development of Public REITs in China

On October 26, at the roundtable forum on "The Development of China's Public REITs Market" at the 2021 Shanghai Stock Exchange International Investor Conference, the first batch of infrastructure companies, financial institutions and intermediaries talked about the development of public REITs.

It has been more than two years since the 2019 infrastructure REITs pilot survey work has been intensively carried out across the country, and on June 21, 2021, the first batch of 9 public REITs were successfully listed. As one of the first issuers, the chief accountant of Beijing Capital Ecological Environmental Protection Group Co., Ltd. believes that high-quality underlying assets with long-term stable cash flow are the necessary foundation for the success of the project and the income guarantee for investors, while the leadership and support of the government and relevant departments is the key to the success of the project, and the unity and cooperation of the project team is an important driving force for the success of the project.

The first batch of projects performed smoothly after listing, met expectations, and had a good demonstration effect. With the promulgation of the National Development and Reform Commission's "Document No. 958", Hao Chunmei said, "We also look forward to the gradual improvement of supporting policies such as tax incentives and state-owned asset transfers to attract more high-quality assets to enter the REITs market; at the same time, drive the sustained and steady development of the REITs market, and be well known and recognized by more market participants." ”

It is worth mentioning that recently, 3 new products have been accepted by the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges. In the view of Du Xuanjun, coordinator in charge of the real estate investment business of Huaan Fund and chairman of Huaan Future Asset Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., in the first batch of public REITs pilots and for a period of time to come, entrusting the original equity holders or their affiliates to operate and manage infrastructure assets is the most feasible and optimal solution. However, in the long run, fund managers with large industrial shareholder backgrounds, for the purpose of professional management or implementation of asset integration, and in order to reduce the risk and cost of entrusting agents, it is possible to gradually build an operation and management institution focusing on infrastructure in a certain field; even with the further liberalization of policies, the operation and management institutions of infrastructure in some fields may directly apply for the qualification of public REITs managers in this field.

Qian Xiaoquan, general manager of the investment department of ICBC wealth management projects, said that public REITs are an important combination of China's financial supply-side structural reform and investment and financing innovation in the infrastructure field, and the allocation of public REITs as strategic emerging assets is a new way to serve the real economy.

"Infrastructure public offerings REITs are major breakthroughs and innovations in the financial field of the country. With the launch of infrastructure public REITs and the gradual establishment of the market, China's infrastructure public REITs market has promising prospects and a promising future. Zhao Haisheng, deputy general manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Co., Ltd., said.

Yu Qiang, co-head and managing director of citic securities' debt financing business line, believes that public REITs have opened up another important financial variety in addition to traditional financial products such as stocks and bonds. As a starting point, the REITs pilot has profoundly changed the way many industries finance it is. With the rapid progress of the pilot and the expansion of industry assets in circular 958, it is believed that the market scale of REITs will further develop and grow. At the same time, with the gradual improvement of the information disclosure system and the in-depth understanding of investors, the protection measures for the interests of investors will be more comprehensive, the proportion of market circulation will be steadily increased, and the liquidity of the REITs market will be further improved in the medium and long term.