GPT has investments in Europe and the US but is selling most of its noncore assets to focus on commercial properties in Australia. In properties it trusts. GPT Group operates through units including General Properties Trust, one of Australia's largest real estate investment trusts (REITs), and funds manager GPT Management. The group develops, owns, and manages primarily retail, office, and industrial properties in Australia. Its largest segment is retail, which represents about half of revenues. GPT Group owns stakes in about 20 shopping centers with more than 1.1 million sq. meters of retail space. GPT Group also manages two property funds which have more than A$5.3 billion in assets under management.

Icade helps build France. The firm invests in, develops, and manages residential, office, retail, public, and industrial real estate. It owns some 3.6 million sq. meters of space in France as well as commercial space and land in Germany. Much of its office property is located in Paris' central business district. Icade has participated in about 25 public-private partnerships to develop schools, government buildings, and hospitals. Property services offered include administrative management, housing operations, and consultation. Icade operates as a SIIC, a public company similar to a real estate investment trust (REIT). Government-owned bank Caisse des Depots owns more than 60% of Icade.

iStar Financial Inc. operates as a finance company focusing on the commercial real estate industry. The company provides custom-tailored financing to high-end private and corporate owners of real estate. Its financing products include senior and mezzanine real estate debt, senior and mezzanine corporate capital, corporate net lease financing, and equity. The company also involves in corporate tenant leasing business, which provides capital to corporations and others who control facilities leased primarily to single creditworthy customers. As of December 31, 2008, iStar Financial owned 362 office, industrial, entertainment, hotel, and retail facilities in 39 states. The company qualifies as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, it generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The iStar Financial Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in New York, New York.

JER Investors Trust Inc., a specialty finance company, originates and acquires a portfolio of commercial real estate structured finance investments. Its target investments include commercial real estate structured finance products, such as commercial mortgage backed securities, mezzanine loans, and B-Note participations in mortgage loans, as well as whole commercial mortgage loans, loans to real estate companies, preferred equity, net leased real estate, and residential mortgages and related securities. JER Investors Trust Inc. was founded in 2004 and is based in McLean, Virginia.

Part of real estate finance and investment management company Ladder Capital Group, Ladder Capital Realty Finance will operate as a commercial real estate investment trust (REIT) targeting first mortgage loans secured by income-producing properties. Other investments will include senior commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and other real estate-related assets. Externally managed by Ladder Capital Realty Finance Manager, an affiliate and indirect subsidiary of commercial finance company Ladder Capital Finance Holdings, Ladder Capital was formed and filed to go public in July 2009. It is currently backed by private equity firms TowerBrook Capital Partners and GI International (GI Partners).

Land Securities Group PLC, a real estate investment trust, engages in the ownership, development, and management of commercial properties primarily in the United Kingdom. It provides customers with access to retail units in shopping centers, retail warehouses, shops, and other regional properties. The company also offers customers with access to offices and creates office developments supporting complementary uses, such as retail, public space, and residential. In addition, Land Securities Group enables customers to outsource the construction and maintenance of buildings, as well as leasing, developing, managing, refurbishing, repairing, and maintaining properties, facilities, and land in the area of public private partnership in sectors, such as education, waste defense training, and local government infrastructure. The company also involves in urban community development operations through its multi-billion pound development program, transforming regional city centers and key sites in Central London. As of December 31, 2007, its property portfolio comprised 1.7 million square meters of retail accommodation; 1.1 million square meters of office and retail accommodation; and 3.1 million square meters properties in property outsourcing partnerships. Land Securities Group PLC was founded in 1944 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Leasinvest Real Estate encourages you to at least invest in real estate. The sicafi (Belgium's equivalent to a US real estate investment trust) invests in mainly new, high-end office buildings, preferably located in business parks, with solid, long-term tenants. Its portfolio consists of about 40 office buildings, storage facilities, and retail complexes in more than a dozen locations. Some 75% of its portfolio is located in Brussels, the remainder is in Antwerp and Ghent. Tenants include businesses and government entities, including the European Parliament.

Founded in 1946, the firm typically retains its properties for rental income. McKay Securities takes UK properties from rubbish to refurbished. The real estate investment trust (REIT) acquires and renovates commercial real estate in the UK. Its portfolio -- located primarily in London and southeast England -- is comprised of 30-plus properties totaling more than 1 million sq. ft. of office, retail, and industrial space. Nearly three-quarters of its portfolio has been developed or extensively refurbished by McKay Securities.

Meredith Enterprises merrily invests in and manages commercial real estate, with a focus on properties in the west, southeast, and Hawaii. Properties include office, industrial, and retail space; Meredith Enterprises has a portfolio of properties containing around 500,000 sq. ft. of leasable space; most of its holdings are in California, but the real estate investment trust (REIT) also has holdings in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and Kona, Hawaii. Chairman and CEO Allen Meredith owns 100% of the REIT, which he took private in 2005.

MFA Financial, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) primarily engaged in the business of investment, on a leveraged basis, in a portfolio of both Agency and non-Agency residential mortgage-backed securities. The mortgage-backed securities that MFA acquires are primarily secured by pools of hybrid and adjustable-rate mortgage loans on single family residences. Hybrid mortgage loans have interest rates that are fixed for a specified period and, thereafter, generally adjust annually to an increment over a pre-determined interest rate index. Interest rates on the hybrid and adjustable-rate mortgage loan collateralizing MFA's mortgage-backed securities are based on an index rate, such as the one-year constant maturity treasury rate or the London Interbank Offered Rate.MFA utilizes repurchase agreements, which typically bear interest rates reflective of the short-term London Interbank Offered Rate, to finance the acquisition of its hybrid and adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities and other assets. MFA primarily generates net income by maintaining a positive spread between the interest and other income it earns on its investments and the cost of financing such investments and its operating costs. Unlike more traditional financial institutions, such as saving and loans and banks, MFA avoids the expense of a costly infrastructure and, due to its REIT status, corporate level taxation.

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