Retail asset manager Sigma Retail Partners seeks to list as Ireland's first retail-focused real estate investment trust in the summer as scheduled, with plans to conduct an early-look investor roadshow with stockbroker Davy in the following weeks, the Irish Independent reported, citing industry sources.
The paper noted that the inclusion of the Square shopping center in Tallaght, Ireland — acquired by Oaktree Capital Group LLC for €250 million — in Sigma's proposed REIT portfolio, provided the scale necessary for an IPO to proceed at the earliest in the summer.
Sigma was heard to have received commitments for the prospective REIT from potential investors amounting to upward of several hundred million euros, according to the report. But a source close to the process was also cited by the Independent as saying the news was speculation.
The asset manager, which has over €500 million worth of retail assets under management, had held discussions on the creation of the REIT since before January 2017.
With Core Industrial REIT PLC tapping out of plans to launch an IPO, Sigma is in line to take its place as the fourth Irish REIT, the March 12 report noted.
