A series of big-ticket deals led to the UK and Germany claiming 80% of the volume for large real estate investments recorded by PropertyEU Research in the first month of 2013.
A series of big-ticket deals led to the UK and Germany claiming 80% of the volume for large real estate investments recorded by PropertyEU Research in the first month of 2013.
The research is based on reported deals of €20 mln or more across the UK and Continental Europe from 1- 30 January 2013. Provisional figures so far indicate a total investment volume of €3.8 bn.
The volumes were driven by very large office deals in London and a mixture of big-ticket property deals across Germany. France also registered a few significant transactions.
The UK accounted for almost €1.7 bn of the volume, with the bulk coming from four mega office deals in London totalling €1.3 bn.
The largest was Kuwait's St Martins Property acquiring 5 Canada Wharf from Evans Randall for almost €450 mln.
A joint venture of Canada's Ivanhoe Cambridge and TPG, a private equity group from Texas, bought Woolgate Exchange in Central London from the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation for €310 mln. Last year Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) passed on the deal.
Similarly, German fund manager Deka Immobilien was the buyer of 5 Aldermanbury Square in London for €290 mln. That deal came two months after Malaysian pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) pulled out of the acquisition of the property in August. year.
Deka also acquired the Palestra building in London for €275 mln. The German fund manager was one of the largest investors in European real estate last year, carrying out acquisitions totalling €2.1 bn.
The UK also saw developers buy existing properties for new schemes in January.
UK developer Stanhope led a cross-border joint venture to buy the BBC Television Centre in London for €58 mln. The plan is to develop a mixed scheme including residential, office and leisure space as well as retaining the BBC presence on the site. The other members of the joint venture partnership are listed Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo).
Another group intends to develop a large hotel and conference centre on the Greenwich Peninsula. Queensgate Investments Fund I and a group of private investors created a €335 mln partnership for a hotel and conference centre project next to the O2 Arena.
The consortium exchanged contracts with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to buy a hectare riverfront hotel led site directly linked to the O2 Arena venue. The investment volume was not disclosed.
PropertyEU Research recorded €1.4 bn of large transactions in Germany. Five deals accounted for €1 bn of the volume. The top two transactions - with a combined volume of €500 mln - involved residential property.
Below, see a news round-up of the most important deals and the PropertyEU research transaction list for January and the full story from the PropertyEU Magazine of March 2013
