Quebec's Ivanhoé Cambridge invests in real estate in France

"This long-term partnership aims to develop a portfolio of environmentally efficient housing, adapted to socio-demographic changes and located in mainland France in the most tense areas, mainly in major French cities, the Mediterranean coast and border areas", says Ivanhoé Cambridge in a press release.

The investments, spread over 15 years, will finance classic promotion operations, but also transformation projects into office accommodation, hotels or warehouses.

"The partnership's strategy is to mainly target this type of innovative and responsible operation via the acquisition of assets to be transformed and large land: wasteland, land used for activities intended to transfer to neighborhoods predominantly residential after demolition of the existing one and depollution if necessary, of office buildings to be converted into housing", Nathalie Caillard, president of Ampère Gestion, the portfolio management subsidiary of CDC Habitat, told AFP.

The partnership, whose objective is to produce between 1.500 and 2.000 new homes, will have 300 million euros in equity, 80% of which will be provided by Ivanhoé Cambridge, said CDC Habitat.

The subsidiary of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations is a behemoth of social housing, which accommodates more than 500.000 households in France.