The last three weeks have seen a spate of of investors taking equity stakes in British property companies. Among others, Lifestyle International Holdings, a Hong Kong-based department store company, acquired a 1 per cent stake in Landsec for £50 million, swiftly followed by South African investor Lighthouse Capital increasing its holding in Hammerson to 9 per cent for £85 million, then, towards the end of May, Brookfield took a 7.3 per cent share, worth approximately £264 million, in British Land.

The deals have a remarkable amount in common: each buyer is non-domestic while their respective target is a British REIT. Each recipient was, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, facing tough market conditions due to holding large retail portfolios that were seeing drops in footfall and voids rising at many (albeit not all) assets, as British consumers turned away from bricks and mortar retail in favour of online. Factor in a global pandemic and the corresponding recession we now find ourselves in, and these companies’ exposure seems to be even more acute.

But that brings opportunities for buyers. Even before the advent of Covid-19 I argued that this year could be a good one for opportunistic international buyers to snap up some solid British retail assets at a discount. Few would argue that prices haven’t reduced even further now.

There’s no doubt that the structural changes afoot remain a risk long term, but the blanket repricing of retail assets that has happened over the past 12 months or so hides that there are still some strong, resilient retail assets out there which, as long as they fit their catchment, may bounce back from the pandemic. Other retail assets, meanwhile, offer value-add opportunities for repurposing.

Buying property itself is, however, tricky at the moment: as an international investor you can’t travel to view an asset and given market turbulence and a lack of sales it’s hard to get an accurate valuation, but at the same time you don’t want to miss out on the discounting that’s taken place over the last couple of months.

The solution therefore is to take an equity stake in a REIT. As Brookfield’s chief executive said to analysts on its publication of its Q1 results on 8 May: 'We are buying shares of companies in our private funds at a fraction of what we would have to pay to acquire those same assets directly from the companies.'

From a strategic point of view an equity stake (if large enough) also provides more options in the form of mounting a takeover and taking a company private at some point, if an investor is so inclined.

With a tough year ahead for the global economy, and British property still perceived as relatively resilient on a global stage, we’re likely to see more international capital heading to ‘safe havens’ so the trend may continue.

For those who know what they’re doing, building up equity now in a REIT may pay dividends (literally) further down the road.

Further information

Read more: Market in Minutes: UK Commercial