ABSTRACT
United States (US) institutional capital had attitude. It had the flexibility and appetite to invest part of its money in higher-risk, higher-return opportunities while anchoring the majority of its investments into stabilised income-producing properties. With the sales of non-performing loans drying up, American capital was already on its second phase in Europe. For the opportunity funds and similar US investors in Europe at this time, buying the market came down to two types of deals: corporate spin-offs and taking listed property companies private. Meanwhile, opportunity funds were taking majority control of listed companies in operating partner investments in Spain and France. The saving grace across Europe was Sweden, which kick-started a wave of new entrants to the market. The revival of the listed property market in Sweden was a much lighter shade of what the US investment banks had seen across the Atlantic but they recognised potential.
