Link Securities | The company has officially responded to the Government’s proposal to withdraw the tax regime for REITs, the newspaper elEconomista.es reported yesterday. According to Juan José Brugera, Chairman of the company, “the changes that some are proposing are very serious. The REITs regime is nothing more than the adaptation to the Spanish case of the rules established in international markets. These types of modifications turn the Spanish market into forbidden territory for international investment”.
Brugera went further and said that, pending further news and if approved, “COL will re-evaluate its investment strategy and the location of its activities and its legal structure, and will adopt, if necessary, the measures that best suit the interests of its shareholders and investors, all with the aim that these potential measures do not have a negative impact on the company”.
In relation to this same issue, the newspaper Expansión reports today on the request from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to the Government to reconsider its proposal to end the tax regime for REITs, a measure that could result in a flight of companies. Changes in the tax conditions of these listed companies could have significant effects on their share price and encourage the relocation of REITs to other European countries, so we urge caution in the face of the changes being studied in the tax regime, said sources from the supervisory body. In the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, REITs have a 0% corporate tax rate.