German property investor IVG Immobilien plans to hive off EUR 3.5 bn of its assets into a tax-friendly real estate investment trust (REIT) which would be launched on the Frankfurt stock exchange in the spring of 2008, newspaper Financial Times Deutschland reported on Thursday. 'If the bourse climate is unfavourable then, we can wait a bit longer,' IVG chief executive Wolfhard Leichnitz told the paper. 'What's decisive for us is not the timing, but the critical mass,' he said.
German property investor IVG Immobilien plans to hive off EUR 3.5 bn of its assets into a tax-friendly real estate investment trust (REIT) which would be launched on the Frankfurt stock exchange in the spring of 2008, newspaper Financial Times Deutschland reported on Thursday. 'If the bourse climate is unfavourable then, we can wait a bit longer,' IVG chief executive Wolfhard Leichnitz told the paper. 'What's decisive for us is not the timing, but the critical mass,' he said.
Leichnitz said that with the exception of a few major foreign players such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, no other German party would introduce a G-REIT as big as the one planned by IVG. 'I can imagine two or three US investment banks launching a REIT of more than EUR 3.5 bn, but not another German investor,' he said. Leichnitz went on to say that he expected several smaller German companies to ride the REIT wave, but noted that the REIT market would consolidate at some point. 'And we want to be the consolidator,' he said.
Financial Times Deutschland also quoted market sources as saying that IVG will buy insurer Allianz' headquarters for around EUR 1.5 bn. Leichnitz declined to comment on the reports, saying only: 'We are confident that we will close even bigger deals this year.'