Canada's Manulife Financial Corp is looking to revive a plan to list a real estate investment trust in Singapore this year after an initial public offering (IPO) was shelved last year due to poor market conditions.

"We'd very much like to bring it back," Chief Financial Officer Stephen Roder told reporters at the launch of a 15-year life bancassurance partnership with Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

He did not give an exact time frame or expected size of any IPO.

Manulife shelved a nearly $400 million real estate investment trust IPO in Singapore in the third quarter last year citing deteriorating global markets.

That left BHG Retail REIT as Singapore's sole REIT IPO last year after several other deals were pulled due to uncertain financial markets and concerns over the impact of a potential U.S. interest rate hike.

Manulife and DBS also said they would co-invest up to S$100 million ($70.24 million) over the next 15 years in digital technology and innovation.