Carrefour--their property REIT

The French supermarket owner, which reported a smaller- than-estimated increase in profit today, will sell a stake in Carrefour Property in an initial public offering next year. The unit will own 60 percent of Carrefour's 24 billion-euro real- estate holdings, the Paris-based retailer said today.

Billionaire Bernard Arnault and U.S. real-estate investment fund Colony Capital LLC jointly bought almost 10 percent of Carrefour in March and have pressed Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Duran to sell property. Carrefour owns more than 1,000 superstores from China to Brazil.