Winners and losers
Bell bottoms
The graph below shows how the global IPO market for property securities has evolved, on a monthly basis, since last summer. The value is shown as the market capitalization of the companies at the end of the first calendar month’s trading, not the amount of equity raised. By value it is the developed markets of Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore) that have been most significant, with a net addition of over £20 billion to the sector during that period (helped significantly by the recent flotation of Country Gardens) although by number the developed markets of Europe have been most active, with 71 IPOs in that period. These figures were compiled at the end of April, before the IPO of AFI Development – the Russian subsidiary of Africa Israel, and Dawnay Day Sirius, the German workspace company, completed
Global property securities IPO activity July 2006 to April 2007 |
Source: AME Capital/Bloomberg |
In the UK the plethora of externally managed vehicles with assets predominantly in emerging markets finally appears to be drying up, and is being replaced by the first wave of "new" domestic Reits.