French property company Icade is close to acquiring Morgan Stanley's Paris-based property investment arm Compagnie La Lucette, French newspaper La Tribune has reported, without quoting sources. La Lucette is 94.7%-owned by the US bank and has a market capitalisation of some EUR 270 mln at present.
French property company Icade is close to acquiring Morgan Stanley's Paris-based property investment arm Compagnie La Lucette, French newspaper La Tribune has reported, without quoting sources. La Lucette is 94.7%-owned by the US bank and has a market capitalisation of some EUR 270 mln at present.
French REIT La Lucette has a commercial real estate portfolio in France valued at over EUR 1.62 bn. The company has carried out over EUR 200 mln worth of sales in 2009 and is reportedly in talks with Allianz Real Estate for the sale of La Colisee office building in Paris' La Defense business district. The company has seen the value of its assets shed EUR 211 mln in the first six months of the year.
Icade is expected to take a final decision on the acquisition during the management board meeting which took place last week. The company recently raised over EUR 2 bn of fresh equity with the sale of the majority of its residential portfolio in the country to a consortium of 25 social housing investors.
