Chinese investors are among bidders for Hong Kong retail assets being sold by Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Link REIT).

Also on the shortlist for the shopping centres is Hong Kong-based private equity real-estate firm Gaw Capital Partners and US private equity giants Blackstone and KKR.

At least 12 groups have submitted bids for the HK$14.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) portfolio. Bids are due by the end of next month.

Link owned assets in Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai at the end of March. Its portfolio includes shopping centres, office buildings, car parks, wet markets and cooked-food stalls.

In July, Link said it intended to review its portfolio, appointing HSBC and UBS as financial advisers and DTZ Cushman & Wakefield as real-estate adviser. The properties on sale are shopping centres in public housing estates in older urban areas of Hong Kong.

“The strategic review is ongoing, which may or may not lead to and result in any transaction,” a Link spokesman told Reuters.

Over the past three years Link has both acquired and disposed of assets. It has sold 28 Hong Kong properties, including shopping centres and car parks, for a total $11.97 billion since July 2014, Reuters reports.