Italian real estate company Sorgente Group is reviving plans for a REIT.
The €5bn investor, owner of New York’s Flatiron building, is to offer shares in a controlled subsidiary, Sorgente Real Estate System (RES).
Sorgente applied to Borsa Italiana for SIIQ (società di investmento immobiliare quotata) status.
If approved, RES will become Italy’s third REIT.
The firm is now waiting for approval from Consob, Italy’s securities market regulator.
As reported last year, Sorgente postponed the IPO due to “current volatility in financial markets”.
Sorgente at the time said a listing remained a strategic objective for this year, “given the interest shown by the market”, particularly coming from foreign institutional investors.
Chairman and chief executive Valter Mainetti said in a statement that the project to list Sorgente RES remained a priority.
The listing on Borsa Italiana, the Milan stock exchange, concerned 50% of the shares.
Italian media had reported that the offering could be worth between €500m and €600m.
Sorgente last year held roadshows in London, New York and Amsterdam to attract foreign capital.
Mainetti last year told Italian media the intention of the IPO was to offer investors a product that was more liquid than real estate funds regulated under Italian law.
This would allow investors to gain exposure to high-quality trophy assets including redevelopment and development projects.
Banca Imi and Barclays were managing the IPO as joint global coordinator and joint book runner.
Intermonte was acting as sponsor and joint bookrunner with institutional investors.
Sorgente was the first company to launch a dedicated institutional real estate fund for Italian investors.
It owns assets such as Galleria Colonna in Rome and Queensberry House in Mayfair, London.
It also has a significant presence in the US, with assets such as the Fine Arts Building in Los Angeles and the Clock Tower Building in Santa Monica.
