REITs or real estate investment trusts in Asia are improving.

In Hong Kong, the New Century REIT debut with a gain of 0.6%. This REIT was backed by the Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group owned Chinese five-star New Century hotels. Previously, the New Century REIT was able to raise US$254 million through an initial public offering last month. In addition, Hang Seng Index gained 1.1%.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, two companies pushed forward with plans of conducting initial public offerings of REITs which were previously postponed. The Developer Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. went ahead with its planned IPO. The hospitality REIT could raise up to SGD1.18 billion or US$926 million. The Developer Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. was controlled by the Riady family of Indonesia.

Another Singaporean company, Singapore Press Holdings, Ltd., filed a prospectus for its REIT initial public offering. The REIT IPO could raise as much as SGD554 million. The IPO was previously postponed for three weeks because of volatility in the market.