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FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award-winning global index provider today announces the licensing of the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed REITs Index to Lion Fund Management (Lion Fund). The index has been chosen as the benchmark for the first-ever Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) fund specialising in real estate.
Real estate has long been a key component of sophisticated institutional investor portfolios globally, with liquid REITs offering an efficient means to access this asset class. With the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed REITs index as its benchmark, the fund gives Chinese investors under the QDII scheme a new opportunity to gain exposure to international real estate assets such as hospitals, shopping malls and offices.
The FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed REITs index is part of the market leading FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series. Developed in partnership with two of the world’s leading trade associations for real estate investing, The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) and The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the index series has become the market standard for listed real estate and REITs worldwide.
Jessie Pak, FTSE Director of Asia said, “Evolving regulatory changes are enabling Chinese investors to access new and dynamic asset classes such as real estate, as well as furthering opportunities for portfolio diversification. FTSE is pleased to be working with Lion Fund Management on this new and innovative product for the Chinese market, featuring a broad and widely-used global benchmark. We are committed to supporting investment opportunities across a range of asset classes and index solutions globally, and to working with local product providers, to provide domestic investors with extended choice.”
“We are excited to launch the first ever China Real Estate Fund.” said Frank Zhu, the Assistant CEO of Lion Fund, “This new fund will give the China retail investors an opportunity to invest in the REITs, the asset class that outperformed both the stocks and bonds in the last 10 years. Lion Fund is pleased to use FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed REITs Index as the benchmark for this fund and look forward to working with FTSE group.”
For more information on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed REITs Index and the entire series please visit www.ftse.com/realestate
