France's Klepierre may beat divestment target

By Juliette Rouillon and Sophie Taylor

PARIS (Reuters) - Klepierre (LOIM.PA), France's third-biggest listed property firm, could beat its target of divesting 1 billion euros ($1.41 billion) of assets by mid-2010 depending on market conditions, executives said on Wednesday.

Half of the disposals will be in commercial property and the other half in retail, Chief Executive Laurent Morel and deputy CEO Jean-Michel Gault told the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in Paris by phone.

Klepierre has been selling assets to boost cash reserves and regain balance sheet strength.

The company, which competes against Unibail-Rodamco (UNBP.PA) and Britain's Land Securities Group (LAND.L), had a portfolio totaling almost 15 billion euros at the end of last year and owns shopping centers, offices and retail real estate.

Klepierre said rents in France's office market have fallen by 15-20 percent over the last twelve months.

($1=.7106 Euro)

(Editing by James Regan)