Japan's real estate investment trusts may stall property sales and suspend fundraising plans in the short term as the effects of the historic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis curb investor appetite for assets.
United Urban Investment Corp., a Tokyo-based REIT, canceled a plan to raise as much as ¥64.9 billion four days after the March 11 disaster struck. Rival Invincible Investment Corp. dropped a ¥4.8 billion share sale to a Fortress Investment Group LLC unit on March 23.
"Deals under agreement may be scrapped because buyers may get cold feet," Dan Fasulo, managing director at Real Capital Analytics Inc., a New York-based research firm, said in a phone interview. "You will see a bunch of previously agreed transactions being canceled due to the fact that confidence has fallen apart in the short term."