Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust (MGCCT) plans to offer shares in the REIT at between 88 Singapore cents to 93 Singapore cents. This is according to a report this morning by Bloomberg who quoted anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter. The China-focused cross border REIT expected to start marketing the IPO next week and begin trading by March.

The company's previous offering Mapletree Industrial Trust, which completed a $714 million IPO in October 2010, is up about 50% since its started trading.

MGCCT will include the Festival Walk shopping mall in Hong Kong and Gateway Plaza office complex in Beijing. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, two previous offerings from the government-backed property giant, Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) and and Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) are both up about 50% from their offer prices from 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The company has reportedly secured commitments for more than half of the IPO offering from cornerstone investors. Cornerstone investors are typically buyers who get guaranteed allocation in IPOs in return for a pledge to hold the stock for a period of time.

Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, DBS Group Holdings, HSBC Holdings Plc are said to be managing the offer. There has been no official announcement from Mapletree on the impending listing nor the speculated offer prices above.

By Ridzwan Rahmat

Ridzwan has been analysing REITs and business trusts since 2008, and personally manages a portfolio comprising mainly of SGX-listed REITs. He founded REITsWeek in 2013.