Mall-owner Taubman invests in China's second-tier cities

Hong Kong

US mall-owner Taubman Centers Inc is bypassing Beijing and Shanghai, instead building its first two Chinese shopping malls in the second-tier cities of Xian and Zhengzhou because the potential returns are higher, Asia president Rene Tremblay said.

Taubman is investing in cities where land costs are less than half those of the most prosperous tier-one cities, which have had an explosion in mall growth in the past decade, Mr Tremblay said.