Ediston Property (EPIC ), the £129m real estate investment trust focused on retail parks, has launched a strategic review after concluding it lacked the scale to deliver the best result for shareholders.

Chairman William Hill said the board’s preference was to merge with one or more Reits, but a sale of the company or its assets were options if they delivered better value for shareholders.

Its shares shot up 12.7%, or 7.8p, to 69p, halving the 24% discount to net asset value at which they closed last night.

Hill hoped EPIC’s move would start a debate in the fragmented Reit sector over how to consolidate and offer fewer, bigger and more liquid funds to investors.

‘The board believes that it is an important time for new capital to flow into the real estate sector,’ he said. ‘The state of markets clearly impacts the timing of when investors might wish to invest new capital, but even when conditions are optimal, the opportunity will be lost if there are other factors at play that inhibit those investment decisions being made.

‘However, it is in the gift of participants within the listed real estate sector to do something about this, and therefore a key element in the board’s decision to announce the strategic review,’ he concluded.

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