Mapletree hires banks for $1 bln Singapore IPO-IFR

SINGAPORE Dec 14 (Reuters) - Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, a firm owned by state investor Temasek, has hired major investment banks to manage an initial public offering next year of a real estate investment trust that would have only Chinese assets and raise $1 billion, IFR reported.

Mapletree hired Citigroup, DBS, Goldman Sachs and HSBC to advise on the deal that will come to the market in the first half of next year, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication reported.

The REIT will contain office and retail properties in China and will be listed on the Singapore Exchange.

Mapletree owns and manages S$20 billion ($16.3 billion) of office, logistics, industrial, residential, retail and mixed-use properties across Asia as of March 2012 including VivoCity which is Singapore's biggest shopping mall, the investor says on its website.