Whitewood Group is looking to raise £125m (€175m) through an initial public offering (IPO) for a Benelux real estate debt strategy.
The private investment manager, wh said it will offer secured, profit-sharing loans on office property markets in the region.
The company said it has a €245m pipeline of potential investments.
Whitewood managing director, Frédéric Van der Planken, said there is a ”significant opportunity” for investors to invest in commercial office properties at a discount with “limited competition” and limited local finance for refinancing and new development.
”Incumbent lenders are over-extended and over-leveraged and there is significant pressure on their balance sheets,” Van der Planken said.
Banks in the Belgo-Dutch markets will continue to lend, but at lower loan to value ratios and only on conservative transactions, the firm said.
Whitewood said the volume of non-performing loans needing to be offloaded in the coming years will create financing opportunities from greater movement in the secondary real estate debt market.
The firm, which has €380m of assets under management, said it will offer two-to-five-year loans up to the ”brick value” of properties rather than to full market value.
An annual net dividend yield of 5.75% is being targeted for the strategy, with long-term returns of up to 15%.
Polarisation of primary and secondary stock, and greater leasing activity were behind the firm’s decision to enter the sector, it said.
