Cromwell European REIT on a tough road to market

SINGAPORE (Sept 25): The market has been awaiting the listing of Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust. But with all the bad press its sponsor has suffered, not to mention the likes of CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Manulife US REIT sapping liquidity from the market with their rights issues, it seems that CE REIT is having difficulty getting off the ground. That is bad news for the local REIT market.

As its name suggests, CE REIT will offer exposure to real estate in Europe, a part of the world that is not currently well represented in the local REIT market. It is also supposed to be relatively sizeable for a newly launched REIT, with an initial portfolio of 81 properties worth more than €1.8 billion ($2.9 billion). The only other pure-play European property REIT in the local market is IREIT Global, which owns five properties with a combined value of just €455.8 million.

CE REIT was supposed to have registered its prospectus on Sept 21, and trading was supposed to have kicked off this coming week, on Sept 28 at 2pm. However, as The Edge Singapore went to print on Sept 21, there was no sign of the registration.