Blackstone buys 40 pc of mall owner SCP

Private equity giant Blackstone has agreed to invest US$400 million for a 40 per cent stake in Shenzhen-based SCP, which owns and manages 19 shopping centres across the mainland.

"As a strategic partner, we look forward to working with SCP on further business network expansion and new acquisitions," Blackstone managing director Tim Wang said.

Wang himself refused to disclose the investment amount, but sources put the figure at about US$400 million.

Wang said Blackstone was attracted by SCP's management team, strong retail sales growth and continuing urbanisation on the mainland.

Retail sales on the mainland have grown on average by 16 per cent a year over the past decade.

In the first nine months of this year, sales increased 12.9 per cent from a year earlier to 16.88 trillion yuan (HK$21.4 trillion), 0.2 percentage point higher than the first half of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.