The European arm of US company Colony Capital has gained an indirect stake in French company Lucia by buying a 30% stake in Olipar, another French property company.
Colony Capital already has a 63% stake in Lucia following a takeover bid in March but, at the time, it was unable to persuade Olipar to part with its 35% share.
The 30% stake in Olipar became available when disagreements within the company led to the chairman stepping down and selling on his share, held by his company Lancaster Participations.
Colony paid Lancaster €9.1(FFr60) per share to a total of €9.9m(FFr65m).
Sébastian Bazin, partner of at Colony and president of Colony Europe, said the deal translated into an increase of 10% in its stake in Lucia. Bazin said he would like to work to consolidate the two sets of shares.
