ING Real Estate announced on Tuesday that it will invest US$35 million in a joint venture to develop a residential project in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

ING Real Estate said it's newly established China Opportunity Fund has signed a joint venture agreement with Longhu Real Estate Development (Longhu), getting a 49 percent stake in the project.

The area to be developed is planned by the government to become the third central business district of Chongqing. The site occupies a total land area of 112,000 square meters with gross floor space of 335,000 square meters.

"Chongqing is one of the fastest growing second-tier cities targeted by our fund with strong end user demand and disposable income," said Richard van den Berg, country manager of China at ING Real Estate Investment Management, "we believe that this latest joint venture project with Longhu provides us the best access to tap the potential of Chongqing's real estate market."

ING Real Estate said it has been operating and growing gradually in China since 1996, developing a strong track record while building a solid local network. In December 2006, the successful closing of China Opportunity Fund raised committed equity of US$350 million.

Longhu is a privately-held company founded in 1995 focusing on mid- to high-end residential developments as well as commercial projects in Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing. In 2006, Longhu ranked top among property developers in western China with total sales revenue of 3.6 billion yuan (about US$462 million).

Apart from the joint venture project with Longhu, the fund has joint venture projects with other leading domestic developers including Shanghai Forte Land, Raycom International and Gemdale Corporation.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2007)