The European Public Real Estate Association (Epra) has launched a discussion paper which it says offers a blueprint for facilitating more effective cross-border investment into and by European real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The European Public Real Estate Association (Epra) has launched a discussion paper which it says offers a blueprint for facilitating more effective cross-border investment into and by European real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The paper, entitled European REITS and Cross-Border Investment, does not support the campaign for the introduction of an EU REIT. Rather the authors seek to create a more even playing field for cross-border investment involving the existing REIT structures in various European countries.
The paper's recommendations relate to the provision of a 'pragmatic approach' to existing bottlenecks in cross-border activity in the European REIT market and the removal of the need for EU member states to introduce artificial cross-border participation thresholds for investment in REITs to protect national tax revenues.
The document - available at www.epra.com - puts forward recommendations that Epra says are EC Treaty compliant, thereby 'providing planning security for national European REIT regimes.'
Epra says the paper plays a role in encouraging convergence within Europe towards a uniform and transparent REIT structure for national regimes. Addressing the campaign for an EU-REIT, Philip Charls, Epra's CEO said: 'We have concerns that the benefits of a single EU-REIT do not outweigh the complexity of its design and implementation.'
