PARIS-France’s second largest banking group BPCE has hired investment bank Rothschild for a strategic review of its ownership of property management services company Foncia. It abandoned plans for a sale of Foncia in July due to weak market conditions.
Foncia has attracted interest from investment funds and private equity firms, but offers fell short of BPCE's expectations. The bank acquired it for $1.8 billion at the peak of the real estate cycle in January 2007 but is now valued at only $1 billion in accounts, and the bank is said to be unwilling to sell below this price.
However, a bank spokesman said the future of Foncia remains under review. "We can confirm that BPCE is still undertaking a strategic review concerning Foncia," he said. But he denied a report that the sales process had already started.
Under BPCE's restructuring plan, announced a year ago, real estate investments are regarded as simple equity interests that could possibly be sold off. Property financing operations, on the other hand, are treated as core strategic businesses.
Allan Saunderson is a managing editor of Property Investor Europe and a contributor to GlobeSt.com.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
