REAL ESTATE - CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust, a US subsidiary of CBRE Investors, is to offer shares worth $2bn in a bid to raise funds for investment across domestic and overseas property segments.

CEO Jack Cuneo said the offering was aimed at portfolio diversification. "We’re looking for stabilised properties in the four basic categories [office, retail, industrial and multi-family]," he said.

The firm, incorporated as a REIT in 2004, may acquire up to 30% of its portfolio in overseas real estate. "We’ll invest where we have offices," he said – notably, in mature European markets and Asia.

The shares will be marketed via a securities firm rather than on an exchange.

In a separate development, parent group CBRE announced last week that it had acquired Dutch property management firm N&T – the latest in a series of strategic European corporate acquisitions in the UK, Belgium, France and Portugal.