Less need for institutional backing evident, fund chief says
Retail investors are likely to get a larger slice of the Link real estate investment trust (reit) when the government makes its second attempt to list it on the stock exchange, according to Patrick Sumner of Henderson Global Investors.
The British-based fund management company's head of global property equities said the enthusiastic response before last year's listing was derailed by a legal challenge meant the government would no longer require the participation of institutional investors as insurance against insufficient demand from retail investors.
'Last time they didn't know what the demand would be, but now they do,' Mr Sumner said in Hong Kong. 'So the situation will be very different this time.
'If there's a large private demand from private investors, then I guess it would be politically expedient for the government to give them a larger share.'
Henderson was one of the nine designated cornerstone investors - similar to strategic investors except they are not legally bound to hold shares for a designated period - in the first listing.