Euro Property articles from July 2005

Euro Property archives from July 2005

South-east Asia tops Morgan Stanley's investment poll.
July 1, 2005... South-east Asia is the preferred location for property investment, according to a survey conducted at Morgan Stanley's annual client conference. Europe was second, followed by Japan and the US. The survey polled 37 companies, including...

Schroders gives Turner an international remit.
July 1, 2005... Neil Turner is to join UK fund manager Schroders as head of international property investment. Turner, Swedish pension fund Alecta's head of European property, will develop Schroders non-UK business, including the launch of Global Property...

Unibail picks up Eiffel scheme.
July 1, 2005... French property company Unibail is to develop a [euro]386m mixed-use scheme in the Eiffel district of Paris. The municipality of Levallois picked the company to build and acquire the 85,000m[sup.2] office and retail project, which is set to be...

Italian state channels assets into [euro]2bn securitisation issue.
July 1, 2005... Loan from four banks to buy 396 state-occupied properties will back FIP issue A [euro]2bn loan backed by Italian state-leased assets is to be securitised in continental Europe's largest issue this year. The loan to Italian closed-end fund Fondo...

CBRE teams up for derivatives venture.
July 1, 2005... CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has teamed up with US derivatives expert GFI Group to launch a UK derivatives trading business. GFI, which played a key role in creating credit and shipping derivative markets, will execute the trades from CBRE's London...

Pirelli buys in Italy ahead of fund launch.
July 1, 2005... Italian property company Pirelli RE has teamed up with Lehman Brothers for a [euro]150m acquisition and is close to launching a [euro]800m fund. In a joint venture with Lehman and private investors, the company has bought Immobiliare Serico,...

Imm0East is quick to hit [euro]614m fund raising target.
July 1, 2005... ImmoEast, a subsidiary of Austrian property company Immofinanz, has closed a [euro]614m capital raising early due to high demand from investors. The new equity, issued at [euro]6.90 a share, was placed shortly after the start of the book...

Student fund is a first for Morley.
July 1, 2005... UK fund manager Morley Fund Management and UK residential company Derwent Living are launching the UK's first student accommodation property fund. The Beach Student Accommodation Fund, a Jersey-based unit trust, will have a target portfolio...

ProLogis swallows rival Catellus in $4.9bn deal.
July 1, 2005... US distribution giant ProLogis has bought rival property investment trust Catellus in a $4.9bn transaction. The takeover, financed by stock and cash, will create a company with a market capitalisation of $17bn and more than 32.5m m[sup.2] of...

Dresdner offloads loan portfolio to US investors.
July 1, 2005... Dresdner Bank has sold a [euro]1.4bn portfolio of non-performing and non-strategic loans to a joint venture between US investors Lone Star and Merrill Lynch. The portfolio, which consists of commercial property as well as German corporate...

Pramerica joins foreign arrivals in Finnish market.
July 1, 2005... US investor pays [euro]35m for Helsinki HQ building Pramerica Real Estate Investors has made its first purchase in Finland by paying [euro]35.8m for the former headquarters of the Suomi Mutual Life Assurance Company. The 94-year-old, listed...

Boultbee makes [euro]170m push into Swedish retail.
July 1, 2005... Boultbee Land has made its first acquisition outside the UK with the acquisition of two Swedish shopping centres for [euro]170m. The centres, one in Uppsala and one in Vasteras, have a combined space of 84,000m[sup.2] and generate [euro]10m in...

GE fund plugs into India's IT revolution.
July 1, 2005... GE Commercial Real Estate has become the latest US investor to enter the Indian property market. The company will invest $63m into the India IT Parks Fund, which is being sponsored by Singapore-based business space provider Ascendas. The S$350m...

Euronews in brief.
July 1, 2005... UK's Mapeley floats UK outsourcing specialist The Mapeley Group has floated on the London Stock Exchange, raising [pounds sterling]128m. The initial public offering represented 25% of the shares in issue, valuing the company at [pounds...

Report shows Germany is in the dark on impact of REITs.
July 1, 2005... German study finds insufficient data to estimate potential value of REITs market Germany's property industry has admitted that it is unsure what impact the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs) will have in the country. In a...

Reichmann family to sell Canadian O&Y holdings.
July 1, 2005... North American investor Brookfield Properties Corporation has agreed to buy the Reichmann family's remaining Canadian property holdings for Can$2bn ([euro]1.3bn) including debt. Brookfield, its Canadian subsidiary BPO Propertiesand a group of...

'German Thatcher' promises home ownership revolution.
July 1, 2005... A victory for CDU in forthcoming German election could accelerate state housing sell-off The media and international investors have hailed Christian Democrat (CDU) party leader Angela Merkel as the "Maggie Thatcher of Germany" following her...

Investors lose reservations.
July 1, 2005... Sale-and-manage-back contracts, where investors buy a hotel business rather than just the property and pay the operator fees, are tempting buyers to venture into a higher-risk sector Fund manager DB Real Estate recently caused a stir in the...

People.
July 1, 2005... Tannenbaum fills Eurohypo research post German commercial property bank Eurohypo has hired Philippe Tannenbaum as director of research. Tannenbaum joins from Credit Lyonnais Securities in Paris. He is a qualified chartered surveyor, a Master of...

Single market irons out the pricing anomalies.
July 1, 2005... Increasing competition from cross-border investors is closing the gap between yields across Europe's markets Are European markets cheap or overpriced? It sounds like a simple question, but put it to a roomful of investors and you'll get an...

Italy.
July 1, 2005... Despite a faltering economy, Italy's property market remains healthy, with international investors fighting for scarce assets and the fund management sector expanding rapidly Italy's economy is performing poorly and the country is attracting...

Pioneers seek out retail gaps.
July 1, 2005... A lack of modern malls is tempting foreign investors to try and crack the Italian retail market Italy's retail sector is one of the hardest markets to get into and most developers are either local or regional. Jeremy Eddy, regional director in...

IPD pan-European property index reveals leap in returns.
July 1, 2005... New pan-European IPD index shows returns rose from 3.7% in 2003 to 10% last year Pan-European property returns leapt last year to 10% compared with 3.7% in 2003, according to IPD's first euro-denominated pan-European index covering 13 major...

Investors start to play on new property instrument.
July 1, 2005... UK property derivatives have taken off in the past year and the Continent is next in line Financial engineering has been meeting property on a new front this year with a property derivatives market gaining momentum in the UK. In the first seven...

Klepierre.
July 1, 2005... The French Shopping centre specialist has expanded rapidly into central Europe and is now active in ten countries, the latest being Poland French shopping centre specialist Klepierre entered its 10 th European shopping centre market in May with...

AM.
July 1, 2005... The Dutch shopping centre developer is moving into investment by launching funds partly seeded with its own assets, the first being a [euro]500m vehicle targeting central European retail Dutch developer AM will no longer have to watch as the...

Metrovacesa.
July 1, 2005... The Spanish investor/developer's takeover of Gecina makes it Europe's second biggest property company, while giving it a foothold in France and the advantage of SIIC status With one audacious move, Metrovacesa has catapulted itself to the top...

Italian funds grow apace in low-tax environment.
July 1, 2005... The government, corporations and developers are feeding rapid growth in property funds Italy's fund management sector has grown vastly over the past twelve months. Gerardo Solaro del Borgo, managing director of Deutsche Bank Fondimmobiliari,...

Grand projects awaken dormant Milan market.
July 1, 2005... A wave of large, mixed-use schemes are set to reshape Milan's market in the next few years Italy's occupational market has been very quiet in the first half of this year and only one letting of more than 10,000m[sup.2] took place, although...

Investors vie for rare prizes.
July 1, 2005... A growing number of foreign investors are fighting for ever-scarcer Italian investments Italy, and in particular Milan, has been near the top of international investors' list of favourite markets for three years. Institutional grade property...

Key data: Occupiers.
July 1, 2005... IT and data centre take-up set for another record year The European technical property sector experienced a strong first quarter of take-up after reaching a record level in 2004, according to the latest report on the sector by CB Richard Ellis...

Key data: The listed sector.
July 1, 2005... ■ The EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index gained 7% in May, contributing to a 12% rise for the index so far this year. Sweden was frontrunner for the third month running, up 9.1%, while the Netherlands rose 6.9% and the UK 6.5%. European volatility...

Dutch FBIs set to open up to foreign investment.
July 1, 2005... The Dutch Ministry of Finance has backed plans to make Dutch FBIs more accessible to foreign investors. The Dutch parliament is expected to discuss the FBIs in parliament after lobbying from Dutch funds association DUFUS. According to analyst...

TMW to raise global fund targeting North America.
July 1, 2005... Fund manager TMW Pramerica Property Investment has launched a global open-ended property fund targeting North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The fund, TMW Immobilien Weltfonds, aims to raise [euro]150m in equity by the end of the...

Lousberg to head sale and acquisition programme at CGI.
July 1, 2005... CGI has appointed Leo Lousberg to head its sale and acquisition programme. Lousberg previously worked for Oppenheim Immobilien-Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, where he was responsible or buying and selling real estate outside Germany. Before that,...

GE's [euro]45m bohemian centre.
July 1, 2005... GE Commercial Finance Real Estate has bought the IGY shopping centre in south Bohemia from ING Real Estate for [euro]45m. The price reflects a yield of below 8.5%. GE beat US fund manager Heitman in the final stage of the bidding. The fully-let...

PCP buys mixed-use portfolio.
July 1, 2005... Patron Capital Partners has bought a mixed-use portfolio, called BCN2, in Barcelona for [euro]207.5m from Immobiliaria Colonial, the real estate arm of La Caixa with partner Bascunana & Asociados. The portfolio is made up of 30,000m2 of flats,...

Triton chooses to close fund as quality product dries up.
July 1, 2005... [pounds sterling]1.7bn open-ended fund investing in UK property closes to protect investor returns UBS Global Asset Management is to close its UK [pounds sterling]1.7bn open-ended fund Triton for an indefinite period, because it cannot source...

Two major Paris office deals net around [euro]500m.
July 1, 2005... Around [euro]500m changed hands in two major deals in the unstinting Paris office investment market this month. The HRO Group has sold the 47,000m2 Rives Defense building in Nanterre in a [euro]244m deal, reflecting a yield of around 6%. The...

APN launches [euro]250m European fund.
July 1, 2005... Fund will raise [euro]113m in equity through a listing on the Australian stock exchange Australian fund manager APN has launched a Aus$400m ([euro]252m) fund targeting European retail, seeding it with a [euro]219m Spanish and Italian portfolio....

Fund managers act to protect investors.
July 1, 2005... UBS Global Asset Management announced this week that it is to temporarily close its UK Triton open-ended fund. This decision could be viewed as one of the first indications of how fund managers will have to act if they are to cope with the full...

First for Place Vendome.
July 1, 2005... UK property company Hammerson and fund manager AXA Real Estate Investment Managers have signed up law firm Clifford Chance for more than half of one of its Paris developments. The law firm will take 13,000m2 of space at 9 Place Vendome for nine...

DB and lips seal Bouwinvest deal.
July 1, 2005... DB Real Estate Global Opportunities Group and a Dutch investor have bought a Dutch office portfolio for nearly [euro]200m. No financial details were disclosed, but sources said the purchase price fell short of the [euro]200m guide price set by...

Fortis confirms consolidation trend.
July 1, 2005... Dutch Fortis Bank has signed a lease for 22,000m2 at about [euro]200 per m2 in the Prins Bernhard Plein 200 building in Amsterdam. The building is owned by Altera Vastgoed and occupied by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC will...

Axa in [euro]115m Spain deal.
July 1, 2005... European property manager AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, on behalf of one of its funds, has acquired a 40,000m2 office development project from Spanish developer Oncisa in Manoteras, Madrid for [euro]115m. The deal represents Madrid's...

Nokia lease-back deal will net [euro]100m.
July 1, 2005... Communications giant has sold and leased back its Finnish headquarters in a deal reported to be worth [euro]100m Nokia has sold and leased back the headquarters of its network division in Espoo, Finland, in a [euro]100m deal with London &...

Gazeley.
July 1, 2005... UK industrial property specialist Gazeley last month put a [euro]170m European portfolio on the market and has re-affirmed its commitment to addressing environmental concerns in its developments Last month the UK's industrial specialist...

Restaura.
July 1, 2005... The Spanish developer has recently expanded into the Paris market, where it has bought and renovated more than 1,000 flats, and Portugal, where it paid [euro]6m for two residential blocks Spanish property group Restaura, which renovates and...

Degi fails again to offload troubled German portfolio.
July 1, 2005... Planned sale of [euro]35om Degi office portfolio fails for a second time as bids fall [euro]100m short of asking price German open-ended fund Degi has failed for the second time to sell a [euro]350m portfolio of German office buildings to...

JLL leads European league.
July 1, 2005... Europe's top six real estate property consultancies are making profits of around [pounds sterling]1.3bn a year. Average turnover is up 16% on last year and two-thirds of this derives from UK operations. Jones Lang LaSalle heads up the European...

Key data: German open-ended funds.
July 1, 2005... ■ Germany's open-ended funds continued to lose money in May but on a lesser scale than in the previous month, losing [euro]63.6m compared with [euro]73m in April. But the figures may not give a true picture, as it is not known to what...

Key data: Non-listed sector.
July 1, 2005... ■The German spezialfonds sector received [euro]987m of capital in the first quarter of 2005, compared to [euro]681m in the final quarter of 2004 and [euro]168m in the first quarter of 2004. The total volume of the sector now stands at...