EDINBURGH ProLogis European Properties, a real estate fund that invests in industrial properties plans to raise as much as €829 million in an initial public offering.

ProLogis, based in Denver, will retain the 24 percent of ProLogis European Properties that it now owns and will manage the fund. But it will not divest any part of its holding in the share sale.  It will be the biggest IPO by a European real estate company since 1999, when Canary Wharf sold £600 million, or $1.1 billion, of shares. So far this year, at least 23 European property companies have sold shares to the public for the first time, raising a total of about $4.7 billion. Seven real estate IPOs were withdrawn in June and July after the markets collapsed in May.

he fund would sell about 49.7 million shares at a price of €14.35 to €14.85, or $18.19 to $18.83. It has the option to sell another 6.1 million shares if investor demand for the stock is high enough.
 
"There is still plenty of appetite for real estate," Patrick Sumner, who manages equities at Henderson Group in London, said. "ProLogis is a pretty good demonstration of that."
 
ProLogis, the world's largest industrial property owner, set up the European fund, which it manages for external investors and which has assets of €4.2 billion, in 1999.
 
The ProLogis property fund owns 281 warehouses and distribution centers with 5.4 million square meters, or 58.1 million square feet, of space, with 40 percent in France. The fund also has substantial holdings in Central and Eastern Europe and in Britain.
 
The fund had debt of $2.4 billion at the end of June.
 
ProLogis European Properties expects to announce the final offer price on or around Sept. 22. Trading in the shares will start on Euronext in Amsterdam before the end of the month..
 
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Edwina Baniqued