Citigroup, Morgan Stanley

Citigroup's property unit plans to increase investment in China's real estate market 10-fold to $800 million in the next three years, Stephen Coyle, chief investment strategist at Citigroup Property Investors, said June 6.

Citigroup Property Investors will buy office, retail and industrial properties, Coyle said in an interview. The New York- based unit will also invest in residential projects in "secondary cities'' where prices have more potential to rise, he said.

Morgan Stanley, the world's third-largest securities firm by market value, plans to triple its investment in Chinese property to $3 billion this year, Sonny Kalsi, global head of real estate business at New York-based Morgan Stanley, said in an interview in Tokyo on March 13.

"It's possible'' that the new measures could delay investment plans by foreign companies such as Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said Deutsche Bank's Ma. "It will be very difficult to distinguish who are the speculators and who are the ones with real demand. It's possible that the policies could hit both.''

Richard Tesvich, Citigroup's Hong Kong-based spokesman, declined to comment.