NAREIT executives visited China in October for meetings with major investors, government officials and other real estate industry stakeholders.
NAREIT’s delegation consisted of Senior Vice President for Industry and Member Affairs Bonnie Gottlieb, Executive Vice President for Research and Investor Outreach Michael Grupe and President and CEO Steve Wechsler. Their schedule during the five-day trip to Beijing and Shenzhen included a meeting with the chairman of the China Investment Corporation, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with reserves in excess of $3 trillion.
Gottlieb, Grupe and Wechsler also met with:
- Top governmental regulators;
- Institutional investors;
- Investment funds that are selling or considering selling REIT securities;
- The head of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange; and
- Two of China’s largest developers: the Wanda Group and Vanke Group Shenzhen.
“We found that those with whom we met were quite knowledgeable about REITs in the U.S.,” Gottlieb said. “They were very interested in learning more about the history of REIT development and the various REIT models in the U.S. and around the world.”
Additionally, Wechsler was a featured speaker at the China REITs Alliance International Conference in Shenzhen.
(Contact: Bonnie Gottlieb at bgottlieb@nareit.com)