Joint ventures could fuel sale-and-leaseback deals

Joint ventures with investors could be one way for corporates to carry out sale-and-leaseback deals despite the depressed state of the investment market, Nigel Roberts, head of EMEA research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said on the first day of the Mipim international real estate fair in Cannes.

Roberts said market parties had to be creative to get deals done. Joint ventures between a real estate investor and the operating partner were one way for corporates to access needed capital, he noted. ' Potentially, everyone is a winner,' he said.

'I think groups are already talking to each other about forming joint ventures or selling large portfolios to a pool,' he said. 'There are players out there with equity but they can't do the overall deal on their own.'