2022.09.06
Huaxia Hefei High-tech Innovation Industrial Park Closed-end Infrastructure Securities Investment Fund was recently approved for registration by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. This is the first approved infrastructure securities investment fund (“Publicly Traded REITs”) project initiated by a local enterprise in Anhui Province. JunHe acted as legal counsel in the project and provided professional services throughout the whole process.
Hefei High-tech Zone Innovation Industrial Park Phase I, the infrastructure project underlying the Publicly Traded REITs, is in the core area of the Hefei Hi-tech Zone. It covers a land use rights area of 146,800 square meters and has a total construction area of 356,800 square meters. The project was completed and commenced operation in 2011. Enterprises in the Industrial Park include QuantumCTek, Cisco China and Technovo Lidar, and are mainly involved in industries relating to electronic information, advanced manufacturing and modern services, all of which have innovative and entrepreneurial attributes and contribute stable rents. Hefei STIP Co., Ltd., the originator of the project, is a comprehensive industrial park developer and operator. Tthe originator has provided enterprises in the park with R&D office space supported by comprehensive facilities, strong policies and efficient services and it receives constant rental income. In 2021, Hefei STIP Co., Ltd. ranked in the top 50 industrial park operators in China (No. 23) and in the top 10 most influential industrial park operators in China (No. 3). It has rich reserves of industrial park infrastructure assets, including completed and under construction industrial parks, covering a total area of approximately 2.15 million square meters, all of which provide the REIT fund with abundant high-quality assets on a continuous basis.
In the project, the originator, Hefei STIP Co., Ltd., injected the Hefei Innovation Industrial Park Phase I project that it held, into two project companies and issued Publicly Traded REITs. The project companies and industrial park assets were used as the underlying assets of the special plan and the Publicly Traded REITs. JunHe provided whole-process legal services and assisted in designing the transaction structure, discussing and implementating the restructuring plan, and conducted legal due diligence on the infrastructure project. JunHe drafted the transaction documents in respect to the special plan and the Publicly Traded REITs, issued legal opinions on the special plan and the Publicly Traded REITs, obtained government approvals, completed procedures related to state-owned assets, and cooperated with the financial advisor in communicating and responding to the stock exchange and the CSRC. JunHe’s team won recognition and high trust from the client and the other intermediaries with its rigorous, efficient and professional work attitude and service quality.
The project was led by Mr. ZHANG, Jingyu (Eli), under the responsibility of Ms. YI, Fang. It was primarily undertaken by Mr. LI, Haifu and internally reviewed by Mr. ZHOU, Fang. Mr. ZHAO, Xiyong (Sammuel) provided great support to the project.
