French real estate investment trust Siic de Paris has carried out a EUR 286 mln capital increase as part of its planned sale of a 30% stake to Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL).

Siic de Paris, the French property arm of Realia, said the operation allows its majority owner to lower its stake to 59.73%, just under the 60% shareholding threshold required for French real estate investment trusts. The sale also decreases its loan-to-value ratio from 41.5% to 33.2%.

The transaction was first announced in October and approved by the companies' boards in December.

Inmobiliaria Colonial's French unit SFL has paid for the stake by transferring two office towers in Paris' La Defense, Les Miroirs and Coface, which offer 51,000 m2 of space and are valued at EUR 286 mln. It also received EUR 50 mln from Realia after selling 2.7 million shares out of the 15.5 million newly subscribed shares to the Spanish company.

As a result, Siic de Paris is expanding its board to 10 with the additions of three representatives from SFL; Pere Viñolas, Carmina Ganyet and Bertrand Julien-Laferrier.

'The strategic target for Realia is to become a company exclusively focused on rental properties and investing in offices in Spain and France as well as in shopping centres in Spain,' Siic de Paris' parent company said in a statement.

Since 2005, Realia's international business has increased from 1% to 27% of total assets and the company intends to further strengthen its foreign activities to roughly 40% in the short term.

Siic de Paris currently owns a real estate portfolio consisting of 39 properties and 193,000 m2, mostly located in Paris and with a value of EUR 1.4 bn.