OpCo-PropCo: A Redundant Technique or Here to Stay?

OpCo-PropCo: A Redundant Technique or Here to Stay?

Historically, sale and leaseback transactions have proven to be an effective and competitive way to finance acquisitions and to refinance companies that own real estate. In its traditional form, a company would sell its properties on an outright basis before leasing it back. In the early 2000s, companies began to move away from this traditional method in favour of the so-called OpCo-PropCo structure in which real estate would be leveraged without selling it. The financial crisis has exposed challenges in OpCo-PropCo transactions, the most important one being refinancing. In this article, we evaluate the once popular real estate monetisation technique and explore what options exist to meet the OpCo-PropCo refinancing challenge.

Market Insight 21-11-2011 OpCo-PropCo: A Redundant Technique or Here to Stay?