First Batch of Five Infrastructure Public REITs Projects Approved by CSRC for Registration

On May 17, 2021, the first batch of five infrastructure public REITs projects were approved for registration by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), upon review and approval by the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and application for registration to the CSRC. The approval marked another milestone in the pilot process of infrastructure public REITs of the SSE.

The five approved projects are Huaan Zhangjiang Everbright Park Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund, Zheshang Securities Shanghai Hangzhou Ningbo Hangzhou-Huizhou Expressway Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund, Fullgoal Beijing Capital Water Utilities Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund, Soochow Suzhou Industrial Park Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund and CICC GLP Warehousing Logistics Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund. The first batch of projects covers four major infrastructure types, including toll roads, industrial parks, warehousing and logistics and sewage treatment. The projects cover key areas such as Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Yangtze River Delta. Priority was given to supporting weak areas of the infrastructure industry and high-tech and featured industrial parks. By focusing on high-quality assets, innovation and standardization, the projects have achieved good demonstration effect.

Under the current environment, the pilot implementation of infrastructure public REITs is of great significance. It is expected to effectively revitalize the existing infrastructure assets, expand the equity financing channels of infrastructure, optimize the allocation of social resources, guide the medium and long-term funds to participate in the capital market, and provide more diversified investment tools and products for investors. In addition, the pilot implementation of infrastructure public REITs will further promote the innovation of China's infrastructure investment and financing mechanism, deepen the supply side structural reform in finance, and help to enhance the quality and efficiency of the capital market in serving the real economy.

Since the official launch of the pilot project of infrastructure public REITs by the CSRC and the National Development and Reform Commission in April 2020, the SSE has made full preparations in terms of REITs product research, rule-making and market organization, arrangement and innovation in trading mechanism, development and testing of technology system, organizing the pipeline of projects, investor education and expansion and so on. Since April 21, 2021, when the application materials of infrastructure public REITs projects were officially received, under the unified deployment of the CSRC, the SSE, through referring to the relevant procedures and requirements of public offering of securities and combining the rich experience accumulated in the review of ABS projects for many years, has effectively controlled the entrance, made full efforts in project review, and promoted the smooth registration and approval of the first batch of five projects.

At present, the first five infrastructure public REITs projects of the SSE are basically ready for listing. In the next step, under the guidance of CSRC, the SSE will speed up the implementation of the pilot program, join hands with other parties to develop this program, work effectively on the issuance, listing and safe operation of the first batch of projects, and ensure the smooth implementation of the first batch of projects. As market organizer, the SSE will further develop and cultivate the investor base, form market synergy, accumulate projects, give full play to the characteristics and advantages of the infrastructure public REITs as a new tool, and achieve a good demonstration effect, making the capital market better serve national strategies and the real economy.