Link Real Estate Investment Trust (, or ; previously known as The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (, or ), managed by Link Asset Management Limited, is the first real estate investment trust in Hong Kong and currently the largest in Asia in terms of market capitalisation. It is wholly owned by private and institutional investors. Link REIT's portfolio consists of 126 properties with about 9 million sq ft of retail and office space in Hong Kong, as well as 7 properties with about 6 million sq ft of retail and office space outside Hong Kong. Link REIT has its head office at in Kwun Tong. History The LINK REIT was established by the Hong Kong government, which hived off assets from the Hong Kong Housing Authority that included 151 retail facilities – mainly within public housing estates – and 79,000 parking spaces. The date for the listing was 25 November 2005, at a valuation of HK$22.02 billion (Valuation = 2,137,454,000 x HK$10.30 = HK$22.02 Billion) (US$2.82 billion). Upon privatisation, Link Reit remains tied to terms in existing tenancy agreements, but will not longer require approval from government to increase rents for new leases. However, financial analysts expected attractive dividend yields – up to 7 per cent – from the privatised company and greater commercial orientation, although some feared that the scope for increasing rental income and cutting labour costs might be limited due to most of its properties being tied to the public housing sector. Initial public offering IPO of The Link REIT, delayed for a year until 2005 through legal action by housing tenants worried that rents would rise, was eventually 18 times oversubscribed. About 510,000 Hong Kong residents, or seven percent of the city's population, placed US$36 billion of orders while institutional investors were ready to commit US$40 billion. The IPO's joint global coordinators were Goldman Sachs, HSBC Holdings plc, and UBS AG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the financial adviser to the Housing Authority. The proposed flotation of The Link REIT by the Housing Authority was delayed when a public housing tenant, Lo Siu-lan, challenged the legality of the proposed divestment of the properties. Lo's lawyer submitted that the Housing Authority had "breached its duty under the Housing Ordinance to provide housing to people in need. Instead, it was selling assets to a private company, which could sublet the properties at market rates rather than benefiting