Orpea to sell EUR 200m assets to OPCI fund

French nursing home Group Orpea plans to create an OPCI investment vehicle to which it will transfer part of its EUR 1.4bn real estate portfolio. The company, which announced earlier this year it would outsource half of its assets to strengthen its nursing home business, expects the launch of the OPCI, or property collective investment fund, will take place by the end of the year. The company plans to retain at least 60% in the new investment fund, which will own about EUR 200 mln worth of real estate assets. Orpea added that the project is being studied by the French market securitites regulator AMF.

'A number of investors are showing interest in this structure,' the company said in a statement late on Monday. The company added that it has created a similar structure for its property assets in Belgium. Orpea Belgium Immobilier (OBI) will seek to place 40% of its capital among reserved investors via a capital increase.