Tackling ethnocentrism in Reit IPOs

CHINESE-BACKED real estate investment trusts (Reits) and property trusts still find themselves battling wariness and scepticism from the investment community which remembers the S-chip scandals of 2009.

At a recent discussion organised by the Reit Association of Singapore, some industry players said, however, that Chinese Reits should not be labelled of the same risk levels as S-chip companies because they are more straightforward businesses backed by physical hard assets, rather than operating businesses that can more easily obfuscate the nature of their business.

Ethnocentrism is not new in the investing world, and a particular prejudice seems to always tar China-domiciled corporates - often viewed as having poor governance and opaque structures.