Creating a Private REIT and/or Hedge Fund

[Navroze Pirza]

Here's a question for which I can't seem to find an answer for, and am hoping to get some insight on....

I currently own a portfolio of multi-units in Canada, and recently had a conversation with someone in the UK, who started off doing the same thing, and eventually rolled his investments into a REIT / Hedge Fund. I've been trying to find information on the benefits / process of doing this, but so far have come up empty.

Has anyone gone through this stage before (creating a public or private REIT by leveraging a current portfolio of investments)?