Irish REITs may boost Europe's listed sector, EPRA delegates hear

More Irish property companies may seek a stock market listing following the July IPO of Green REIT, delegates to the annual conference of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) in Paris heard on Thursday.

In the next five years, Ireland may see five more REITs emerge with a market capitalisation of €5 bn, one commentator in a video presentation outlining EPRA's Investor Outreach programme predicted.

In July, Green REIT raised over €100 mln above its original €200 mln target in a listing on the Irish stock exchange.

While the size and relevance of Europe's listed real estate sector remain worrisome, there are some positive signs, delegates heard. The German market has spawned a number of newly floated companies in the past 12 months with a market capitalisation of some €3 bn, EPRA's CEO Philip Charls pointed out.

'Germany's share of the European index has grown from 8% to 10%,' he noted. 'That's still too low but it is growing, slowly but surely,' he said.

EPRA itself is also in expansive mode, Charls said. On 1 September the Brussels-based organisation appointed an Asian Investor Outreach Manager office in Hong Kong to tap the capital wave from Asia for listed European real estate. The office will be run by Yuri Zhou, a former research associate for Citi Research in Hong Kong.

EPRA has also made a strategic appointment in London by making Matt Fletcher investment outreach director in the UK to promote the listed real estate sector in the UK and the Nordics.

EPRA has also appointed Andrew Saunders in the newly created role of director reporting & accounting and Patrick Laureys as director of European affairs. Both these positions were previously held by Gareth Lewis who is leaving EPRA to return to his home country the UK.