Euro Property articles from January 2007

Euro Property archives from January 2007

Cohen to launch $1bn real estate hedge fund.
January 15, 2007... Apax founder and partner George Kountouris target Asia-Pacific, US and European opportunities Sir Ronald Cohen, founder of private equity firm Apax, is to launch a $1bn (770m) global real estate hedge fund with George Kountouris, a former...

Operation Mozart heralds forward-funded Parisian deals.
January 15, 2007... Historically low yields has prompted a spate of forward- funded developments in Paris, with the new Bouygues Telecom headquarters in Issy les Moulinex being the latest VEFA (Vente en l'Etat Futur d'Achevement) coming to the market. The...

Macquarie leads building surge in Eastern Europe.
January 15, 2007... Australian company forms jv to develop residential in Warsaw, with Euro Mall Holding, North REO fund and SEB also doing deals in the former Soviet bloc Australian firm Macquarie Global Property Advisors has formed a joint venture to...

Saudi family buys [euro]600m of Enel assets.
January 15, 2007... Deutsche Bank's RREEF and CDC Ixis have sold part of a 1.4bn portfolio to Arab investors for 600m -- less than three years after they bought it from Italian utility Enel. The properties, which are part of the Domus Holdings portfolio, were...

In brief.
January 15, 2007... Deka appoints Morsdorf Deka has appointed Franz Lucien Morsdorf as chief executive of Deka Immobilien Investment. Morsdorf joins from aurelis, owned by WestLB and Deutsche Bahn, and succeeds Reinhardt Gennies, who left at the end of last...

Sweden's conservatives begin retail asset sell-off.
January 15, 2007... 700m of retail centres in Stockholm to be sold as part of plan to shed state assets The City of Stockholm's privatisation programme is continuing apace with the sale of a 700m retail portfolio. Ten shopping centres, located in central...

US insurer goes on Euro spree.
January 15, 2007... American insurance company AIG has bought a 90% stake in a 60m office building that is part of Luxembourg city airport. The 17,000m2 building is 50% vacant. The remaining 10% has been bought by Germany's listed Adler Real Estate, which...

French legislators curtail foreign ownership of real estate vehicles.
January 15, 2007... The French senate has clamped down on foreign ownership of the country's listed real estate vehicles, SIICs. It has approved amendments to the SIIC 4 regulation, which take effect in January 2009, stating that shareholders cannot own more...

Befimmo in [euro]576m deal.
January 15, 2007... Befimmo has bought a Belgian government portfolio, Fedimmo, worth 576m, in Belgium's biggest property deal last year. Befimmo will retain 90% of the shares in the deal, which consists of 62 properties totalling 382,000m2. The government...

Curzon buys [euro]160m Dutch portfolio.
January 15, 2007... Curzon has bought a portfolio of 18 assets in the Netherlands for its Curzon Capital Partners II fund for around 160m, with a net initial yield of 8%. The 118,000m2 portfolio consists of offices, warehouses and mixed-use properties. Ric...

Aareal sells management business to Schroders.
January 15, 2007... Aareal Bank has sold its property asset management arm as part of its strategy to shed non-core business. The bank sold Aareal Asset Management to UK's Schroders for 28m. Shares in Aareal rose 3% during the first week of January on...

Rodamco makes debut in Russia with Moscow deal.
January 15, 2007... Dutch retail investor sets benchmark yield with 200m purchase of 50% stake in Metropolis centre from Capital Partners as part of its "early mover" strategy Rodamco Europe has made its first investment in Russia. The Dutch shopping centre...

In brief.
January 15, 2007... ING goes Italian ING Real Estate has bought two Italian shopping centres from Carrefour for C229m. In Milan, ING bought the 38,000m2 Carrefour Limbiate centre and in Sicily bought the 25,000m2 Carrefour Siracuse centre. The deal is part of...

In brief.
January 15, 2007... GE buys Italia portfolio GE Real Estate has bought four office developments in Milan and Rome for 122m from Vegagest's Europa Immobiliare. It is GE's third Italian acquisition in two months. The 50,400m2 portfolio includes three office...

London's stars outperform.
January 15, 2007... New research reveals that office rental growth in the City and West End markets will lead Europe, with Stockholm, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona also performing well London's office market will enjoy the highest rental growth in Europe over...

Savvy investors AIM to inspect European wares.
January 15, 2007... After a flurry of listings and rising share prices in the first half of 2006, the energy has gone out of the Alternative Investment Market. But clear company strategies will help revive interest During the second half of 2006, 25 property...

Boultbee.
January 15, 2007... From a modest beginning developing UK industrial property, Boultbee has become an influential retail investor in the Nordics -- and beyond In 1987, brothers Clive and Steve Boultbee Brooks set about developing industrial buildings from a...

Astroc.
January 15, 2007... Valencia-based Astroc's wide remit -- which includes land trading, development, financial advice and property promotion -- as well as access to cash and debt, has helped it to attain strong share price growth When Spanish newspaper El...

Confidence and job growth turn attention to the Netherlands.
January 15, 2007... The Dutch economy is growing and foreign investors are eyeing portfolios. Even a glut of office space in Amsterdam may start to disappear and pave the way for attractive yields Last year, UBS paid 110m for a portfolio of six office...

Bureaucrats and businesses make Brussels a safe haven.
January 15, 2007... Foreign investors flock to low-risk Belgium despite an increasing level of vacancies The Belgian investment market is enjoying a surge of interest from overseas investors looking for low-risk returns, mainly in the office sector in the...

Key data: Occupiers.
January 15, 2007... Cushman & Wakefield predicts consolidation among prime retailers Brands fuel demand for high street space Limited supply and shopper demand fuel retail sector The retail market continues to improve in much of Europe, fuelled by wage...

Key data: German open-ended funds.
January 15, 2007... Sector set to end year with negative net inflow Difa domestic fund Number 1 posts largest cash outflow Germany's open-ended property funds realised money inflows of 94.2m in November, a decrease on Octobers' inflows of 529.6m. Despite...

Key data: The listed sector.
January 15, 2007... Europe index ends 2006 on a high Greek firm Babis Vovos tops European and global markets with 39% rise Property stocks finished well ahead of equities and bonds last year, with the EPRA/NAREIT European index rising more than 49.4% in...

A reasonable gamble.
January 15, 2007... Impulsive, bold and relatively unregulated, hedge funds are offsetting their riskier activities by investing in property, with specific real estate funds now emerging Hedge funds have been making negative headlines recently, with the...

Inverse swap rekindles bad memories of 1992.
January 15, 2007... Long-term debt has become cheaper than short-term debt, prompting fears of a recession in the eurozone. But a number of observers believe that these fears are ungrounded Are bad times around the corner for the Continent? In mid-October...

A time for observation, not prediction.
January 15, 2007... The New Year is always a good time for publications to make resolutions and forecasts. I am not a fan of either of them. Why does the beginning of January afford the clearest vision of the future of European property market? The big question,...

Beni Stabili.
January 15, 2007... Italian property investment company Beni Stabili, widely expected to be the country's first REIT, is looking to expand its portfolio though trading in its core office market Hotly tipped to become the country's first real estate investment...

Evli.
January 15, 2007... Finnish bank trades on its experience in Russia as it launches 450m fund that aims for 20-30% returns through development opportunities in Russian cities Private Finnish bank Evli wants to become a big investor in Russia real estate. Its...

Benelux.
January 15, 2007... Often thought of as one region, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have differing property landscapes -- the Brussels market is changing, and the Dutch market is growing The Benelux countries have long been regarded as a single region....