Reits and other areas of Greek property finance are likely to grow strongly if restrictive regulations are liberalized. Dimitris Kontogiannis reports.

GE grows into the world’s biggest landlord

Michiel Rang, senior managing director, ING Real Estate Finance.

CB Richard Ellis, the Los Angeles property services firm, is linking up with investment boutique Reech AiM to launch a global series of six property hedge funds.

Unibail’s takeover of Rodamco has sparked off a round of merger speculation in the property sector.

Andrew Vaughan joined the board and became chief operating officer (COO) of Redevco Europe on June 1. He leaves his old role of managing director of Redevco UK and Nordics and succeeds Jan Dalmeijer, who will retire on September 1 but will retain a part-time role. Vaughan will be in charge of the strategic direction of a number of national organizations under the Redevco Europe title.

Tom Maynard, finance director of real estate advisory firm DTZ, is to leave at the end of this year to explore "new opportunities." His plans are not yet known and DTZ is yet to find a replacement. Maynard has been at DTZ for five years and is said to be in search of new challenges. However, his departure, planned in the fourth quarter, is amicable, illustrated by Maynard being directly involved in finding his replacement in coming months.

Francois Pochard, 58, is the new chief executive of Ixis AEW Europe, the pan-European real estate investment manager of Ixis asset management group in Paris. This was an internal move. Pochard was previously senior managing director in charge of French activities.

Tata Group, which joined with private equity firm Xander Group through its group company Trent in April, has outlined plans to raise $1 billion for an institutional retail real estate fund.

Dutch and Danish pension funds ABP and ATP have teamed up with German real estate firm Patrizia Immobilien to launch a joint venture that will invest up to €700 million in German commercial real estate.

The Association of Real Estate Funds, the representative body for unlisted commercial real estate funds, announced on April 2 the continued expansion of its membership with the addition of four new funds.

South Korea’s government plans to set up a real estate fund in September to finance construction of rental houses. The move aims to stabilize house prices, a government official says.

Applying common risk metrics to real estate assets driven by unique local market factors is a challenge.

A new Nordic real estate adviser, Glitnir Property Holding, has ambitious plans to grow beyond the Nordic region into northern Europe.

Morley Fund Management is the latest European investor to move into the Chinese property market.

Deutsche Börse announced in May that it would launch an index covering real estate investment trusts.

New Star is launching a new international property fund and says it is the first of its kind in the UK.

CMBS has been flying in Europe, nowhere more so than in Germany, which had a dramatic year in 2006. So fast did the market move that this year it is struggling to maintain such a relentless pace. Observers, though, believe there is still plenty of potential over the long term. Phil Moore reports.

Nanette real estate group has appointed Gerald Neil Parkes as non-executive director.

JPMorgan is beefing up its European real estate structured finance business with several new hires.

The Association of Real Estate Funds announced on March 20 the launch of the 2007 Aref Code of Practice to govern the £40 billion, in 60 funds, that its members manage. The code was officially launched to its members on March 22.

Although Reits remain a favoured capital-raising tool for Asian property businesses, especially in developed markets, high-yield debt issuance, particularly for China property plays, is gaining increasing popularity among developers as a strong Chinese equity market fuels investor appetite for the sector.

Tanmiyat Investment Group, a Saudi development company, plan to divest $1 billion-worth of assets through a property trust listing in the US and to set up a Singapore-based finance firm to fund its expansion abroad. The firm is also considering an IPO in either Singapore or London in 2009 to raise about $1.2 billion, or equivalent to 30% of its total $4 billion assets.

Real estate derivatives market participants believe that new property index definitions and trade confirmation forms, published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association on May 4, will spur an increase in liquidity as investors become more familiar and confident in trading and legal risks are reduced.

Blair Pickerell, the former chief executive officer of HSBC investments in Asia, is moving to Morgan Stanley in June. Pickerell will take up a new role at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) as managing director and head of Asia business. He will report to Owen Thomas, president of MSIM in New York, and regionally he will report to Hans Schuettler, CEO of Morgan Stanley Asia.

The Property Investment Market (TPIM), the world’s first property exchange, announced on April 13 a new agreement with the property derivatives arm of Tradition Financial Services, one of the world’s largest brokers of financial products.

The second set of regulations for Italian Reits were announced in April to the delight of many investors. It is thought that the Italian Reit, the Società di Investimento Immobiliare Quotare (SIIQ) could be the first step towards improving transparency in the Italian markets and increasing liquidity on the Borsa Italiana.

Since the turn of the decade the region’s property market has seen spectacular growth. Now the infrastructure is catching up, giving entrepreneurs greater confidence in the market’s long-term health. Nigel Dudley reports.

by Stuart Nelson, credit analyst, Standard & Poor’s .