SHANGHAI -- Everbright Ashmore Investment has joined hands with T&C Asset Management Consulting Ltd and Jiabao Group to launch a shopping center project in the city's Jiading district by signing an agreement on Thursday.

The project, named Panociti, covers a land area of 160,000 square meters to construct 240,000 square meters of housing and a 120,000-square-meter shopping mall, said Qian Ming, chairman and president of Jiabao Group.

He said it is expected to cost more than 800 million yuan in investment and scheduled to be completed in 2014, but he didn't tell the percentage each investor shares.

"For the project, we have done a lot of work including efforts to find a location, feature the project and design it. Finally, the three parties reached a consensus," said Pan Ying, chief executive officer of Everbright Ashmore Investment.

Pan said retail real estate which has a great potential in China will be one of major investments of Everbright Ashmore Investment, which has already injected heavy funds into the property industry in China's first-tier and second-tier cities. Now it manages more than 2 billion yuan of assets in the country.

"We will continue caring the market and find opportunities and suitable partners for suitable projects," he said.