Blackstone Group LP, the world’s biggest manager of alternative assets including private equity and real estate, agreed to buy a 40 percent stake in Chinese shopping mall developer and operator SCP Co.

ICBC International Holdings, a Hong Kong unit of China’s largest bank, also agreed to buy a 6 percent stake in Shenzhen- based SCP, taking its total asset values to more than $2 billion, according to a joint emailed statement Monday. New York-based Blackstone did not disclose the dollar amount of its investment in the statement.

Chief executive officer Stephen Schwarzman is stepping up real estate investment in Asia, tapping the market for $4 billion for the company’s maiden property fund focused on the region. Blackstone, which has been among the biggest buyers of property in Australia and India, is further seeking to boost such investment in China as rising income and urbanization drives demand.

“With China’s economy increasingly driven by domestic consumption, the retail sector has tremendous potential,” Chris Heady, head of Blackstone’s real estate business in Asia, said in the statement. “There are only a few high quality shopping mall managers in China and SCP is one of the most experienced.”

SCP owns and manages 19 shopping malls under its Incity, SCP Plaza and One City brands, according to the statement. It has developed and operated malls with an accumulated gross floor area of more than 4 million square meters across cities in the country’s Pearl River Delta, Yangzi River Delta and Bohai Economic Rim, it said. (Bloomberg)