US Group Northwood Investors has sold 41% of its shareholding in Parisian REIT Cegereal in a financing round with a group of institutional investors led by Sinaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.

The sale was prompted by French tax regulations stating that no company may hold more than 60% of the share capital in a REIT. Northwood temporarily held 98.44% of Cegereal's capital after signing an agreement last year to acquire the 59.78% stake held by Commerz Real's HausInvest fund.

Northwood disposed of 40.96% of Cegereal, bringing its share down to 57.48%. The main beneficiary was GIC, which took up 25% of the total shareholding.

Cegereal specialises in office properties and owns a €1 bn mln portfolio comprising a 125,000 m2 of space. It had a market capitalisation of €476 mln at end-2015.