French office-focused real estate group Fonciere des Regions (FdR) has seen its rental revenues rise by 1.2% on a like-for-like basis to over EUR 391 mln in the first three quarters of the year. Letting activity in the past quarter was 'sustained', with a number of new leases being signed, including the renewals of the rental agreement with France Telecom on 12 assets and the leasing through FdR's logistics unit of the 18,000 m[sup]2[/sup] Bollène site.

French office-focused real estate group Fonciere des Regions (FdR) has seen its rental revenues rise by 1.2% on a like-for-like basis to over EUR 391 mln in the first three quarters of the year. Letting activity in the past quarter was 'sustained', with a number of new leases being signed, including the renewals of the rental agreement with France Telecom on 12 assets and the leasing through FdR's logistics unit of the 18,000 m2 Bollène site.

During the third quarter, the company also entered into exclusive negotiations with Eiffage Construction for a 10,000 m2 turnkey lease at its Velizy project near Paris.

'Good achievements in Q3, in term of asset management and active management of the debt will continue to strengthen FdR fundamentals,' said Chief Executive Christophe Kullmann. Looking forward, the company will continue to 'consolidate its real-estate position centred on the office market, while maintaining its active strategy of asset management, particularly vis-à-vis its tenants as well as seizing opportunities for development and investment', he added.

FdR, which owns EUR 8.6 bn of assets, 80% of which are offices, has refinanced roughly EUR 600 mln of loans since the start of the year. In particular the company signed a new EUR 270 mln seven-year debt agreement last week on its CB21 tower at La Defense at an annual cost of less than 3.50%.

The company was also able to decrease its stake in the Italian property arm Beni Stabili to 50.9%, from 73% at end-2009, therefore allowing the company to meet the shareholding conditions set by the Italian SIIQ regime.