LONDON (Reuters) - More companies, including many manufacturers, are starting to consider ways of extracting value from the real estate they own in part to fend off becoming vulnerable to a private equity takeover, a leading property services firm said on Monday.
"We're getting quite a few organizations now saying, 'What do we do to protect ourselves?,'" John Wilson, senior director of corporate strategies at CB Richard Ellis (CBG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), told the Reuters Real Estate Summit in London.
"If they are extremely well run, it's less easy for (private equity) to see a turn on a business," he added. "If there is a better return and a better way to protect the business through the monetization of assets, then you would expect them" to do so.
Retailers, cinema chains and pub operators have become increasingly vulnerable to takeovers in recent years as private equity firms exploit the valuable real estate they own as a way to finance their leveraged buyouts.
Wilson said manufacturers across Europe, including pharmaceutical companies and other industries undergoing major transition because of mergers and other factors, were more actively reviewing their real estate.
"For organizations who want to go through change, it's a tidy way to pay for the change through real estate," he said.
"The other element is organizations that are pretty happy with what's going on ... but they'd like to take money out of the business and give it back to shareholders or protect themselves from (private equity firms)."
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