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South Korea's Lotte REIT, a real estate investment trust under the country`s fifth largest conglomerate Lotte Group, priced its shares at 5000 won per share, at the top end of its pricing range. Domestic institutional investors showed overwhelming enthusiasm for the company's initial public offering (IPO).

The book-building process, which was held from September 23 to October 2, garnered 969 investors, equivalent to more than 20 billion shares. The competition rate was 358.06:1. Given the planned IPO values Lotte REIT at 5,000 won apiece, the book-building process attracted an order-book of over 100 trillion won.

Investor demand was way stronger among domestic institutional investors than foreign institutions. Excluding foreign institutional investors who don't have trading record, domestic institutional investors account for 96 percent of the total.

Of 969 investors who participated in the book-building process, 797 were domestic institutional investors. Thirty-two foreign institutional investors participated in the process through the deal roadshow abroad.

"The result was better than I expected. Domestic institutional investors showed strong interest from the beginning of the book-building process," said one industry source.

A strong interest from domestic investors is attributed to the relatively long book-building process. The company conducted its book-building session for domestic institutional investors and the deal roadshow in Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York at the same time. It differs from an ordinary IPO book-building session which normally is held open for the last two days of the deal roadshow abroad.

"The book-building process took place at home and abroad simultaneously. Domestic institutional investors used to wait and see foreign investors' reactions, but this time, they showed strong interest from the start," said the source.

Public subscription starts from October 8. Korea Investment & Securities, one of the co-underwriters, KB Securities, Samsung Securities and Hana Financial Investment have marketed to their clients. "Thanks to the heightened interest in REITs, we have been getting many phone calls from customers inquiring (about the IPO)," said one market watcher.

(By reporter Lim Hyo-jung)