By Yantoultra Ngui and Kane Wu

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - The property investment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com ( JD ) and two other firms plan to launch a Singapore-based real estate investment trust (REIT) with assets potentially valued at more than $1 billion, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

JD Property, the unlisted infrastructure investment and asset management platform of JD.Com ( JD ), is setting up the REIT with Swiss investment firm Partners Group and EZA Hill Property, which is backed by Asian investment firm Hillhouse, the sources said.

The planned REIT could be listed on the Singapore Exchange as soon as next year, added the sources, who declined to be named as the matter is private. The REIT plan has not been reported previously.

If successful, the JD Property-backed REIT would be one of the largest new entrants in Singapore's REIT space in more than a year, signalling growing confidence in the sector and underscoring the increasing role of Chinese capital in Southeast Asia.

The setting up of the planned REIT comes after JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill jointly purchased four logistics assets from CapitaLand Ascendas REIT for S$306 million ($238.56 million) this month, the sources said.

The three investors are currently finalising the REIT's asset composition, which is expected to include industrial properties in Singapore that the consortium acquired from CapitaLand, they added.

JD.com ( JD ), JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. CapitaLand declined to identify the purchaser of the logistics assets.

JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill plan to scale up the Singaporean REIT across Southeast Asia, targeting further acquisitions of industrial and logistics assets, a third source said.

The companies are working toward completing the REIT's establishment by October, and its final valuation may shift depending on the asset mix, the first two sources said.

The latest REIT plan in Singapore comes amid a tentative revival in the city's REIT market, which had seen a lull in new listings since 2021 due to rising interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty.

The recent initial public offering of NTT DC REIT, Singapore's largest listing since 2021, and the surge in the benchmark index to record highs since late July show renewed investor appetite amid efforts by the city-state to boost its equities market.

LISTING PLAN

EZA Hill, one of JD Property's partners in the REIT, is backed by Rava Partners, the real assets investment arm of Hillhouse Capital. The firm has been actively acquiring logistics and industrial assets across Southeast Asia.

JD Property, majority-owned by JD.Com ( JD ), has been expanding globally over the past three years. It operates more than 50 projects across nine countries, including Japan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, its websites showed.

The company counts Warburg Pincus and Hillhouse among its minority investors and has partnered with sovereign wealth funds such as Singapore's GIC and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala to raise billions of yuan for logistics developments.

The Singapore REIT listing plan also comes as JD Property is still pursuing a separate market listing for itself via a Hong Kong IPO, the sources said. The timeline for the IPO is not known.

JD Property applied for a Hong Kong IPO on March 30, 2023, but it has yet to obtain regulatory approval for the listing. JD.com ( JD ) and JD Property did not respond to requests for comment on the Hong Kong IPO plan.

JD Property is part of JD.Com's ( JD ) "new businesses" segment, which includes JD Food Delivery, Jingxi and overseas ventures, according to JD.Com's ( JD ) financial statements.