Italy's Aedes Immobiliare plans to launch a EUR 1.2 bn real estate investment trust (REIT) by the end of 2008, CEO Luca Castelli said in a statement on Thursday. Failing that, the real estate group intends to buy a listed company and convert it to REIT status, known as SIIQ in Italy, by December. In the latter case the company will transfer assets worth EUR 400 mln to the new company, while a strategic partner will contribute another EUR 800 mln in assets. The SIIQ is expected to have asset under management of EUR 1.6 bn by 2010, the company said.
Italy's Aedes Immobiliare plans to launch a EUR 1.2 bn real estate investment trust (REIT) by the end of 2008, CEO Luca Castelli said in a statement on Thursday. Failing that, the real estate group intends to buy a listed company and convert it to REIT status, known as SIIQ in Italy, by December. In the latter case the company will transfer assets worth EUR 400 mln to the new company, while a strategic partner will contribute another EUR 800 mln in assets. The SIIQ is expected to have asset under management of EUR 1.6 bn by 2010, the company said.
Aedes added it has already identified the partners with which the SIIQ could be carried out.
Aedes, which recently unveiled its three-year plan for 2008-2010, expects to launch six new traditional funds, mostly active in retail property, and another six opportunistic funds by 2010. The company said it plans to double asset under management by the end of the decade to EUR 10 bn. Aedes expects to expand internationally by focusing on acquisitions in North and Central Europe and emerging markets to the east. The company will look for investment opportunities mostly in the retail sector in Sweden and Germany, and focus on residential and retail developments in Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria.
In February, Italy's bank Intesa Sanpaolo said it has started the process to list its EUR 1 bn real estate investment trust, IMMIT Immobili Italiani, as a SIIQ. Legislation facilitating the creation of SIIQs was introduced last summer.
