UK - The Local Shopping REIT, the UK’s first specialist retail REIT, last week announced it had raised £160m (€234m) from its 87% flotation on London’s main bourse.
Although it is too early to gauge the main sources of investor interest – as the IPO was open to both institutions and retail investors – a spokeswoman for the REIT said the firm expected mainly institutional interest.
The REIT invests in small neighbourhood and specialist shops, largely outside urban conurbations, although it will also target high street assets 'selectively'.
Its appeal is said to lie in offering access to a fragmented and management-intensive asset class, described by the spokeswoman as an 'extraordinary income generator and therefore suited to the REIT model'.
'No-one else has done what these guys have done,' she said. 'It’s an undiscovered niche.'
The firm, which began acquiring assets in 2005, now holds 484 assets collectively valued at £207.7m. Net annual rental income on the portfolio is £13.8m, although the firm plans to work some rents up.
