Gemdale Corporation, one of China's largest developers by market value, said yesterday it plans to form a 50-50 overseas real estate investment venture with UBS AG, Europe's largest bank by assets.

The joint venture will rise between US$200 million and US$300 million initially, the Shenzhen-based developer said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

As planned, the new venture will become a priority partner for Gemdale in its future development of residential properties, and an existing Gemdale real estate project will be selected as a seed project, the company said.

Gemdale and the new venture will also make a joint investment in the country.

In a separate filing to the exchange, Gemdale announced its net profit for 2007 is expected to soar by 100 to 120 percent from 445.28 million yuan (US$61.8 million) a year earlier, mainly because of increased property sales.

Also yesterday, Guangzhou-based Poly Real Estate Group Co Ltd, China's largest state-owned developer, said in a statement to the exchange that its profit would probably double from 2006 due to higher revenues.

Housing prices jumped an average 10.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year in 70 major Chinese cities, an increase of two percentage points as compared to the previous quarter, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday on its website.

Prices for new residential properties rose 11.4 percent during the October-December period, up 2.4 percentage points from the third quarter.

(Shanghai Daily February 1, 2008)