(Full story)
By Lionel Laurent
PARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - French banks are beating a retreat from the property sector, leaving a key under the doormat for private-equity investors, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds.
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are all hawking bundles of property loans to prospective buyers to shrink their balance sheets to meet tough new rules designed to clamp down on risk, according to two Paris-based real-estate bankers.
The potential impact is significant as banks account for two-thirds of European commercial property lending, with more than 384 billion euros' worth of loans maturing in 2012-2014. But prospective buyers and investors like private-equity funds and insurers will be on hand to pick up some of the slack, property market experts say.
"The banks' retreat does have a rather considerable impact on investment...(But) it does leave substantial room for manoeuvre for all the private-equity funds that tend to come from the United States," said Magali Marton, head of EMEA research for property consultancy DTZ.
By Lionel Laurent
PARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - French banks are beating a retreat from the property sector, leaving a key under the doormat for private-equity investors, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds.
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are all hawking bundles of property loans to prospective buyers to shrink their balance sheets to meet tough new rules designed to clamp down on risk, according to two Paris-based real-estate bankers.
The potential impact is significant as banks account for two-thirds of European commercial property lending, with more than 384 billion euros' worth of loans maturing in 2012-2014. But prospective buyers and investors like private-equity funds and insurers will be on hand to pick up some of the slack, property market experts say.
"The banks' retreat does have a rather considerable impact on investment...(But) it does leave substantial room for manoeuvre for all the private-equity funds that tend to come from the United States," said Magali Marton, head of EMEA research for property consultancy DTZ.
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