Mainboard-listed real estate player Tuan Sing Holdings has taken a stake in a mixed-use development project in China's island province of Hainan, it said yesterday.

The group has paid 75 million yuan (S$15 million) for 7.8 per cent in Hainan-based Sanya Summer Real Estate, which is controlled by mall developer and operator Hainan Summer Property Development.

Sanya Summer Real Estate plans to build a complex with commercial, residential, hotel and retail components near the Sanya High-Speed Railway Station in Hainan by end-2021.

The complex, which will have a saleable and leasable area of about 2.6 million sq ft, comes at a development price tag of 1.6 billion yuan and a gross development value of five billion yuan, Tuan Sing said. It is slated to include an internal shopping street, hotel apartments, an event hall, a cinema and a long-distance bus interchange hub.

Tuan Sing chief executive William Liem said in a statement: "Given the huge potential of this project, we believe that it is in the long-term interest of the group to increase our stake in due course.

"For years, we have had a presence in China but this investment will serve to give us a foothold to tap the rapid pace of growth in Hainan, as well as the growing affluence within Sanya.

"As one of the first foreign developers to embark on such large-scale projects in Hainan, we are well placed to benefit from the tourism boom and the government's favourable development initiatives for the province."

He also said the group "will continue to identify suitable opportunities to grow our portfolio of strategically located assets and explore meaningful partnerships and collaborations so as to enhance and diversify our revenue streams" in a bid to build its regional footprint.