SZITIC Commercial Property Ltd has drafted plans to undertake an initial public offer in Hong Kong valued at USD1 billion. This plan may be realized as early as the last quarter of 2013 and comes after it had sold a stake in two of its major malls to Carlyle Group LP, the US private equity firm.

The shopping mall developer engaged the services of JP Morgan and China International Capital Corp to manage the IPO, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

SZITIC has sold a 49% stake in the malls it had recently built, both of which are located in the secondary cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou. No details were provided as to the amount paid by the US buyout firm.

The company is based out of Shenzhen and had completed ten shopping malls in cities such as Beijing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. The IPO plan comes after the property developer shareholdings are again being favored by investors largely due to the increasing real estate prices as well as the surging demand for homes in the mainland.