Sorgente, an Italian fund manager with some €4.5 bn of assets, said it is postponing an initial public offering of its Sorgente Res unit planned for this month as a result of 'current volatility in the financial markets'.
Sorgente, an Italian fund manager with some €4.5 bn of assets, said it is postponing an initial public offering of its Sorgente Res unit planned for this month as a result of 'current volatility in the financial markets'.
Rome-based Sorgente said it has decided to put the IPO plans on hold in agreement with the global coordinators Barclays and Banca Imi and the financial advisers. However, the listing remains a 'strategic objective' for next year, the company said in a statement.
'The project to list Sorgente Res remains a priority in our development plans even though at the moment we have to consider that the market conditions are not favourable,' Sorgente said.
The announcement is a major setback for the local property industry which was hoping to see an increase in activity on the back of a surge of foreign investor interest as well as recent changes to real estate investment trust (REIT) legislation in the country.
Sorgente was one of three players which recently announced plans to list shares or convert to REIT status. Italian property entrepreneur Giuseppe Statuto, owner of some of Italy's best known luxury hotels, including the Hotel Danieli in Venice, also said earlier this year that he was planning an IPO of his company which owns assets valued at €1.5 bn. The company is expected to carry out the listing between the end of the year and the beginning of 2015.
Similarly, HI Real sold 80.1% of its hotel holdings in September to the Alawadhi Investment Europe fund, representing the first step in the company's plan to become a SIIQ, the Italian equivalent of a REIT. In a second step, the company plans to carry out a 'reverse takeover' with three partners, which will yield the company seven buildings for a total value of €48 mln.