Hong Kong’s Link Reit will listen to grass-roots concerns, bosses say
Managers of controversial landlord for public estates suspend sales of its properties and vow to listen to criticism of its ‘shortcomings’
The managers of The Link Reit have suspended further sales of its properties and will meet Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in a few weeks after Hong Kong’s No 2 official reportedly vowed to target the real estate investment trust over public concerns about grass-roots retailers being priced out of its wet markets and low-end shopping malls.
In an attempt to reach out to suspicious tenants, the unpopular landlord made a high-profile statement on Wednesday that it was willing to listen to views on its own “shortcomings” and reassess the suitability of problematic companies that took over its properties.
The government appears to be taking a harder line against The Link in an election year for the legislature, to be followed by another for the city’s leadership.
Responding to mounting complaints about unfair handling of retailers by companies taking over shopping malls at public housing estates from The Link, it put on hold all further sales pending a review of its business strategies.
“We are reviewing that process to make sure [we can] address questions we have been asked about,” Link chairman Nicholas Charles Allen said as he announced annual financial results.
