Euro Property articles from March 2007

Euro Property archives from March 2007

Europa Capital and Azora launch [euro]2bn CEE buying spree.
March 5, 2007... Two vehicles have been launched to invest in real estate in Central and Eastern Europe. London-based fund manager Europa Capital Partners and Spanish real estate company Azora are targeting development projects in the region worth up to 2bn....

Ivanhoe Cambridge sets yield record in Moscow deal.
March 5, 2007... Ivanhoe Cambridge has made its debut in the vibrant Moscow real estate market. The Canadian investor paid around $500m (378.9m) for the Vremya Goda shopping centre in a deal that sets a new 9% benchmark yield for the Russian capital, say...

Carrefour sells Turkish retail scheme to HFS.
March 5, 2007... French retailer Carrefour is selling a development in Turkey to German closed-end fund manager HFS for 290m, reflecting a yield of around 6%. The 60,000m2 Merter hypermarket is on one of Istanbul's busiest roads, the E5 motorway, which is...

British Land to set Spanish record with [euro]330m purchase.
March 5, 2007... British Land is close to sealing the biggest single-asset deal in Spain. The UK real estate investment trust has secured exclusivity from the vendors on the 330m purchase of the Nueva Condomina shopping centre in Murcia, according to...

DTZ to launch [euro]400m European fund of funds.
March 5, 2007... DTZ Investment Management is set to launch the first of its own products, a European fund of funds, this month, and plans to launch an Asian fund of funds later in the year. Aurora Europe Property Fund will launch with a seed portfolio of...

CB Richard Ellis lets fly with Falcon II in Spain.
March 5, 2007... CBRE launched its second Falcon investment fund on behalf of rich Spanish individuals. Morgan Stanley is also linked to the fund. The fund, run out of Madrid and three times the size of Falcon I, has made its first purchase: a 47.5m...

Hermes seeks [euro]1.06bn of real estate for BT.
March 5, 2007... Fund manager Hermes has embarked on a $1.4bn (1.06bn) real estate shopping spree in continental Europe and Asia on behalf of the BT Pension Scheme. The fund manager has also recruited three real estate investment managers from Abu Dhabi...

Property shares hit by market slump.
March 5, 2007... Property shares fell harder than the broader markets during last week's stock market slump.c Shares in the Epra/Nareit Europe property index closed 4.39% lower at 2988.63 on 27 February. A fall in the Chinese market at the beginning of the...

Renta in quick sale of Madrid office complex.
March 5, 2007... Renta Corporacion is to sell three buildings in Madrid to Monteverde for 110m this week, only six months after buying them. The property company bought 3, 5 and 7 Plaza Espana for 104m in July from a group of five investors with a view...

Owners plan split of Metrovacesa.
March 5, 2007... Metrovacesa will soon cease to be the Continent's largest property company when it is split to resolve a power struggle in its boardroom. The Spanish company will be divided into Metrovacesa and Gecina, the French company it bought in...

HSH Nordbank reports 12% operating profit leap.(Financial report)
March 5, 2007... HSH Nordbank's real estate lending business posted operating profits of 260m after risk provisioning in 2006, a 12% increase on the year before. HSH Nordbank wrote 60% more loans last year than in 2005, taking its new loan commitments to...

French SIIC to buy Paris office.
March 5, 2007... Morgan Stanley's French SIIC, Mines de la Lucette, is to buy the Atrium building on 139 Rue de Bercy in Paris. The building's owner, German insurer Allianz, is expected to sell the eight-storey building for around 100m, according to...

Briefs.
March 5, 2007... KanAm to sell Paris office KanAm has put 37/39 Rue d'Anjou in Paris on the market and expects to get around 70m, reflecting a sub-5% yield. The 4,366m2 building is let to Dexia Banque Privee France, with a lease ending in 2013. It is...

Colonia takes 51% stake in Australian companies.
March 5, 2007... Listed property company Colonia Real Estate has bought a 51% stake in two residential companies that are owned by Australian investors Babcock & Brown and GPT. The German investor also signed an option to acquire the remaining 49% by 30...

Fonciere des Regions to buy 35% of Beni Stabili.
March 5, 2007... French property company Fonciere des Regions plans to buy a 35% stake in leading listed Italian property group Beni Stabili. Australian residential property company Delfin, controlled by Leonardo Del Vecchio, signed an agreement to sell its...

Top retailers take space at new Istanbul centre.
March 5, 2007... Turkey is set to get a string of high-end retailers when a new shopping mall opens in Istanbul next month. The April opening of the 200m Istinye Park retail and residential project will see fashion brands such as Chloe and Dolce & Gabbana...

CGI eyes [euro]200m deal for President Project.
March 5, 2007... German fund manager CGI is set to buy the President Project in Luxembourg for more than 200m from Belgian developer Atenor. c The deal is expected to reflect a net initial yield of 5.75% based on a 12-month rental guarantee. The...

Halverton launches [euro]1bn shed fund.
March 5, 2007... Asset manager Halverton has launched a 1bn European fund to invest in distribution warehouses. Cambridge Place Investment Management, a hedge fund, will provide almost all the equity. Senior Halverton managers will also invest in the fund,...

[euro]400m for Celsius package.
March 5, 2007... Invista Real Estate is close to buying the Celsius portfolio from closed-end fund manager Aerium for 400m, including 160m debt. Aerium put the portfolio of high-quality assets on the market last October. It is understood that the sale was...

High note for Munich redevelopment.
March 5, 2007... Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate has sold a prime property in Munich to Irish investor Quinlan Private for 270m. The deal reflects a net initial yield of 4.15%, according to a source. The fund manager bought Maximilianhofe, which is located...

API teams up to launch Norwegian development firm.
March 5, 2007... Investment bank Enskilda and Aberdeen Property Investors have raised NKr3bn (372m) to create a new Norwegian property company. SEB and ABG Sundal Collier placed the shares in Scandinavian Property Development with Norwegian and...

Briefs.
March 5, 2007... Curzon funds C85m Polish mall The Curzon Funds group of IXIS AEW Europe has funded a forward purchase of Galeria Pestka, an C85m shopping centre in Pozna[acute accent]nccccccc ,ccccc Poland. The 40,000m[sup.2] shopping centre, which is due...

Metrovacesa splits in two.
March 5, 2007... An end to the power struggle between the main shareholders of Metrovacesa is in sight, but its resolution will lead to the splitting of continental Europe's largest listed property company. Metrovacesa chairman Joaquin Rivero and investor...

Aussies seek Euro dividends.
March 5, 2007... It should be no surprise that Australia was a prime market for Kevin McCabe, who tried to sell property company Scamp and fund manager Teesland there. Australian investors ploughed 4.8bn into European property last year, according to Jones Lang...

Derivatives go continental.
March 5, 2007... The UK property derivatives market grew to [pounds sterling]3.6bn last year in 257 deals, according to Investment Property Databank. Since the market's inception, [pounds sterling]4.675bn has been traded in 333 deals, each averaging [pounds...

No loss of appetite.
March 5, 2007... The demand for property shows no signs of slowing. Last year, global investment into direct property rose by 38% to $682bn (518.1bn), according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Rival Cushman & Wakefield puts the figure a bit lower, at $643bn. ...

A society is judged by its housing.
March 5, 2007... "This room cost $2,000 a month/You can believe it man it's true/Somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants," sings Lou Reed in 'Dirty Boulevard', on his 1989 New York album. The album bemoans the legacy of the US Republican...

Look east for evidence of sheds' potential.
March 5, 2007... Industrial and logistics property has long been regarded as the poor relation of the property market. But, as record levels of capital target the real estate sector, "sheds" may soon come into their own. In mature markets, such as the UK,...

Heard in the Eurolounge.
March 5, 2007... The man with an island mentality With the prospect of sea levels rising as a result of climate change, you wouldn't expect many people to sink their money into small islands. But the dream of owning your own island still appeals to many...

The varied cultures of Europe's consultants.(Company overview)
March 5, 2007... Property consultants have enjoyed record revenues and profits as the demand for property keeps rising. Most of the money they make comes from advising investors. For the first time, EuroProperty has profiled 10 European property consultancy...

Residential.
March 5, 2007... In most European countries, house prices have risen strongly thanks to low interest rates. Lenders have also made it easier for people to own their own home by requiring lower, or zero, deposits and offering longer mortgage terms. There has...

UK owner-occupiers rule.
March 5, 2007... With net yields on British housing as low as 3.5%, it is hard to see why investors should be interested in this market. The Bank of England's decision in January to raise base rates to 5.25% has widened the difference between the cost of...

Politics fail to slow down German housing sell-off.
March 5, 2007... Investor interest in Germany's residential sector is strong over the past four years, between 1.2m and 1.5m German houses changed hands. And this interest shows no signs of abating. According to Ulrich Jacke, managing director of property...

French housing poised to be the next big thing.
March 5, 2007... The French want to be homeowners, yet they cannot afford to be house prices are too high. Residential property prices have risen by almost 20% over the past two years, according to the Paris Notaries Chamber. And because many people can't...

Spain reaches saturation point as market recedes.
March 5, 2007... Many observers have long expected the Spanish housing market to slow down. Last week the Spanish government endorsed those predictions when minister for housing Maria Antonia Trujillo said the market was heading for a "soft landing". After a...

Plenty of land but not many reasons to build or buy.
March 5, 2007... Ever since a centre-right coalition took over from Sweden's socialist government last September, change has been afoot. A number of state-owned companies, including property company Vasakronan, are to be privatised. The residential market...

Property equities beat direct investment in 2006.
March 5, 2007... Property maintained its strong performance last year, according to the latest Investment Property Databank index, but was outstripped by property shares. In the three markets to report so far this year, property returns have been above...

Fidelity International.
March 19, 2007... The global asset manager, which has no direct property experience, has ambitious plans to develop its presence in real estate with a diversified, pan-European, semi open-ended fundWithin 10 years, Fidelity International plans to develop its...

Corio.
March 19, 2007... One of the first Western companies to invest in Turkey, the rapidly expanding Dutch retail investor has been the subject of takeover rumoursDutch retail investor Corio's share price has risen as a result of fevered takeover speculation. The...

Reasons to be positive.
March 19, 2007... European commercial property is about to become more highly leveraged this year, a survey of the Continent's leading bankers and investors has found. Both bankers and investors have ignored researchers' predictions on prospective returns...

City of Paris and Degi complete asset swap.
March 19, 2007... The City of Paris has completed its first asset swap, trading a fully let office in rue Condorcet for a nearly vacant M7 building in Rive Gauche. Degi bought the M7 building in March 2006 from ING Real Estate for 115.5m. Originally, Degi...

Czech and Romania lure ImmoEast.
March 19, 2007... ImmoEast has invested a further 300m in CEE. The Austrian listed company has bought five properties in the Czech Republic for 210m. The 110,000m2 portfolio consists of three standing assets: Jungmannova, an office building in Prague Brno...

In Brief.
March 19, 2007... Renta buys Paris tower Spanish property company Renta Corporacion has bought La Villette tower in Paris for 94m from the Olympe group. The tower, in the 19th arrondissement, was bought by the group in 2000 from Vivendi. Olympe refinanced...

In Brief.
March 19, 2007... Pirelli launches Sicilian fund The first private property fund in Sicily has been launched by Pirelli RE and RREEF with a value of C263m. The FIPRS-Fondo Immobiliare Pubblico Regione Siciliana vehicle will be managed by Pirelli RE, with...

In Brief.
March 19, 2007... WP Carey goes logistical WP Carey & Co has bought 61 French logistics properties in a $68m (C51.6m) sale-and-leaseback deal with CVC Capital Partners. The portfolio, which covers 92,900m2, includes prime industrial parks outside Paris,...

Doughty Hanson sells Prague office park.
March 19, 2007... European real estate fund manager Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate has sold office park Nove Butovice in Prague for 89.5m to Czech and Slovak Property Fund. Office Park Nove Butovice comprises three office properties let to Accenture,...

In Brief.
March 19, 2007... Camizon moves up at Feau & Dauchez After a career with the company of 30 years, Paul-Louis Camizon will leave the operational management board of Feau & Dauchez and take up the chairmanship of its supervisory board. Charles-Marie Jottras...

Investors brave risks and red tape to enter Russia.
March 19, 2007... Moscow's property investment market is growing fast. In 2005, only around $500m (380m) of deals were done. In 2006, the figure was $4bn, and today property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle expects that more than $6bn of deals will be done by the...

In Turkish retail, how much is too much?
March 19, 2007... One shopping mall may be enough for most city centres. Two may well be too much. But three, and all within a five-minute walk of each other? The MetroCity shopping centre and the Eczacibasi Group-built Kanyon office mall are both located in...

Key data: German open-ended funds.
March 19, 2007... - Sector reverses results of January 2006 with 1.9bn cash inflow - Deka and CGI funds are top performers - Germany's open-ended funds collected 1.9bn in January compared with money outflows of 4.2bn a year ago when the industry went...

Deals boost Northern Europe hotels market.
March 19, 2007... More than 1.6bn in hotels has exchanged hands in Northern Europe. Moor Park Real Estate has bought a portfolio of 91 hotels, comprising 72 hotels in Germany and 19 in the Netherlands, from Accor for 863m. The Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Etap...

Key data: Occupiers.
March 19, 2007... - Moderate development pipeline helps sustain rents in Italy - London's and Tokyo's offices are the most expensive Relocations help stabilise rents in Milan and Rome Milan and Rome's occupier markets have reported a year of rental...

Key Data: The listed sector.
March 19, 2007... The EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index dropped 0.6% for the second month running. While the UK dipped by 1.6%, the rest of Europe was on the increase, with France up by 8%, the Netherlands improving by 1.3% and Sweden rising by 1.2%. Danish company...

Prime European rents and yields - Q4 2006.
March 19, 2007... Prime European rents and yields, Q4 2006 Dublin posts the lowest retail yields cccccccccccccc Officescccccccc Shopscccccccc Industrial cccccccccc Rent /m[sup.2]cccccc Yield % Rent /m[sup.2]cccccc Yield %ccccc Rent /m[sup.2]cccccc...

Where money is cheap.
March 19, 2007... Recent interest rate rises in Japan have highlighted the risks associated with carry trade.c Will property investors be the next ones to borrow in undervalued currencies? The practice of carry trade borrowing in foreign currencies because...

Russia and Turkey.
March 19, 2007... Property investors are casting their nets further eastwards - to Moscow and Istanbul - in the search for higher yields. The Russian capital's expensive hotels are crowded with Western Europeans and North Americans looking to get a foothold...