Euro Property articles from May 2008

Euro Property archives from May 2008

INREV's rulebook lacks clout.
May 5, 2008... Guidelines issued by the non-listed funds organisation aim to increase transparency and make fund comparison easier, but managers have no compulsion to play by the rules In the past year, INREV, the European Association for Investors in...

Quality is the key as lenders tighten their purse strings.
May 5, 2008... Debt and equity may be hard to find for the many new opportunity funds chasing capital Banks across Europe are rumoured to have closed their doors to fund managers seeking debt in the wake of the credit crisis. Yet at the same time, a...

Can supply of opportunities meet rising demand?
May 5, 2008... A number of fund managers are launching vehicles with an appetite for UK stressed assets Following the credit market fallout late last summer, a number of listed UK funds and property companies were forced to mark down their net asset...

Morley stays as top Europeanfund manager.
May 5, 2008... Morley has 44.5bn in Europe, AXA operates the most vehicles, while ING stays on top of global market Morley has retained the title of Europe's largest property fund manager, with 44.5bn of European assets under management, according to the...

The problems in Europe are starting to show.
May 5, 2008... EuroProperty /INREV Fund Managers' Survey reveals significant value falls - but managers are insisting there is still interest and they won't be changing strategy Commercial real estate in Europe is starting to feel the effect of the...

Key data: recent deals.
May 5, 2008... - Deals agreed for Karstadt department stores and Deutsche Post assets - Deka Immobilien buys Finsbury Square - Lone Star agreed to buy a 1bn portfolio of commercial assets from Deutsche Post. The US investor will put the 1,267...

It ain't over 'til it's over.
May 5, 2008... Experts differ in their estimates of the turmoil's duration. But solutions are already on offer Central banks have stepped in to help stabilise markets and mitigate the credit crunch's impact on the wider economy by slashing interest rates...

Funding available only for top clients and safe deals.
May 5, 2008... Cautious lenders adopt "take-it-or-leave-it" policy with reliable, connected borrowers Securing debt has become tricky. Loan-to-value ratios have slipped while margins have risen. But this is not the main problem investors face. Banks are...

Know what you're looking at.
May 5, 2008... With fewer properties being sold, lenders' and buyers' assessment of due diligence is being stepped up - and insufficient due diligence is blamed for some of the market slump The number of deals is slowing across Europe as a result of the...

Lindahl hires ex-Catella staff for new consultancy.
May 5, 2008... Tom Lindahl, who left Catella last summer, has set up his own consultancy company, Tenzing.He has hired a team of ex-Catella employees who will focus on large-scale transactions and corporate finance services.Lindahl was one of the ten Catella...

Consortium buys 24.9% stake in Hypo Real Estate.
May 5, 2008... US private equity firm JC Flowers leads partners Grove International Partners and Shinsei Bank in 1.1bn deal for share of subprime-hit real estate lender A group of investors led by US private equity firm JC Flowers has bought a...

Ways for hotels to cope with a double whammy.
May 5, 2008... Amid costly borrowing and disruptive unforeseen events, hotel investors should build three rules into their strategy The effect of a tightening in lending criteria has been keenly felt in the hotel transactions market. Indeed, the handful...

Make-or-break time for Italian property companies.
May 5, 2008... Italy is relatively unhurt by credit crunch, but companies face a growing struggle to sell assets The problems facing Italy's real estate market are ones which new prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will not be able to do much about.While...

Record year for data centre take-up.
May 5, 2008... European data centre take-up set a record in 2007. Total take-up by data centres last year was almost 158,000 m2, a 148% increase on the previous year, according to CB Richard Ellis.The take-up of what is known as the "carrier-neutral market",...

City job cuts will create a glut of empty office space.
May 5, 2008... 40,000 redundancies in London's financial district expected to hit occupational market Job losses in London's financial district, the City, are likely to hit 40,000 as a result of the US subprime crisis and global credit crunch, according...

Spanish investors seek bright lights of Nueva York.
May 5, 2008... Exchange rate and profitable assets lure players away from moribund domestic market As Spain's domestic property market implodes, the country's property companies are looking elsewhere to invest their money. Last month the government...

In brief.
May 5, 2008... Henderson sells Paris assetHenderson Global Investors has sold an office asset in Paris for 26.5m. The property, which is in the north-west district of Levallois, was bought by BNP Paribas for Valuer Pierre. The 4,600 m2 building is occupied by...

The debt spout is turned off.
May 5, 2008... Only low-risk, high profit property ventures pitched by cash-rich, well-organised and well-connected investors stand any chance of securing bank funding Bank lending to European property has dried up as losses from debt linked to the US...

In brief.
May 5, 2008... Rutley to hit LTV agreementsRutley European Property is close to hitting its loan-to-value covenants after its borrowings leapt five-fold last year, from [pounds sterling]73m (C92.5m) to [pounds sterling]367m. The pan-European fund, managed by...

Groupe Lazard.
May 5, 2008... The Strasbourg-based office development group specialises in schemes in France's regional cities, and expects its turnover this year to hit 300m as it eyes projects in Belgium and Germany For many investors and developers, France is all...

Ballymore.
May 5, 2008... The Irish property company made its name as an aggressive player in the UK and Ireland, and more recently in central and eastern Europe. And after a period avoiding western Europe, it is looking at France and Germany Ballymore is one of...

Large cities' office markets turn in mixed results.
May 5, 2008... The office markets of Europe's major cities are enduring mixed fortunes.In the first quarter of 2008, take-up in central London, Paris and Madrid was down on the same period last year, according to Atisreal.Take-up in Paris during the first...

Finance.
May 5, 2008... The credit crunch has resulted in lenders funding only a few deals - and even then on their own terms. Take-up rates, rents, and development activity will dwindle, and jobs will be lost European property markets have been starved of funding...

In brief.
May 5, 2008... RBS in rights issueThe Royal Bank of Scotland will launch a [pounds sterling]12bn (C15.2bn) rights issue, the biggest in UK history, to raise extra capital. The rights, or shares, will be sold to investors at a discount. RBS has liquidity...

Schroders.
May 5, 2008... The fund manager is launching opportunity funds that will exploit credit crisis-stressed assets, and is extending the life of some of its other vehicles UK-based Schroders is to become the latest fund manager to take advantage of asset...

Credit crunch hits non-listed fund returns.
May 5, 2008... Returns from European non-listed real estate funds fell by nearly 25 percentage points in 2007 as the credit crunch took its toll, claims INREV's Institutional Vehicles Index.When measured in euros, the INREV Institutional Index produced a...

White Estate to buy Dutch subportfolio.
May 5, 2008... A consortium of Dutch investors led by White Estate Investments has agreed to buy the Dutch part of the Corio portfolio for 650m. The purchase price is 1.5% lower than when the portfolio was valued at the end of last year, Corio said. Corio...

Keiser takes over from Watson at ProLogis.
May 5, 2008... Gordon Keiser has been appointed chief executive of ProLogis European Properties (PEPR), replacing Robert Watson, who will be returning to the US as ProLogis' chief sustainability officer. Keiser's appointment will be effective from 1 June. He...

Funders reject plan to redevelop Zuidas.
May 5, 2008... The redevelopment of the Zuidas in Amsterdam is under threat after the project's financiers rejected the City of Amsterdam's investment proposal.The financiers believe the financial and political risks are too great, according to Dutch daily...

In brief.
May 5, 2008... AxFast buys Stockholm assetSwedish investor AxFast has purchased the Sporren 16 building in Stockholm's CBD from the John Mattson portfolio. The building, which comprises fully let office and high street retail space of 14,000m2, was put up for...

JLL data warns of office take-up fall.
May 5, 2008... Rents expected to drop in City of London and West End Take-up in Europe's major markets will slow this year.Take-up fell by 7% in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the same period last year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's European...

5.1% yield possible on Gare du Midi office sale.
May 5, 2008... Five bidders are in the final round for a Brussels office valued at more than 250m.The 60,000 m2 property near the Gare du Midi has attracted the interest of AXA Belgium, Fortis, national pension company Integrale and German fund manager...

Bids in for LaSalle's north Paris office.
May 5, 2008... LaSalle Investment Management is selling an office in Paris.First-round bids have been received for the 16,000 m2 L'Olympe building, which includes retail space. The asset is thought to be worth 90m-100m.The property, in the north of the city...

Opportunities attract Schroders.
May 5, 2008... Schroders has become the latest fund manager to launch opportunistic vehicles investing in assets being sold as a result of the credit crisis. It has set up Columbus Capital Management to manage funds the group is launching this year. The first...

Lower asset values prompt managers to prolong funds.
May 5, 2008... Goodman, Schroders and Pradera seek to avoid flooding an already weak market by extending lifetimes of, or merging, vehicles due to expire in the next two years Fund managers are extending the life of funds or rolling assets into new...

Scandals reinforce corrupt image of Dutch property.
May 5, 2008... Piles of cash, private cartels and a weak judiciary fuel the industry's dubious reputation "I no longer want anything to do with this world," said Dutch entrepreneur Joop van den Ende recently. He was not referring to the showbiz world,...

Wilson joins niche investment company - and C&W.
May 5, 2008... Mickola Wilson, the former chief executive of Teesland, has started two new roles. She has joined small investment firm Seven Dials to spearhead a range of fund launches, and has also become a non-executive director of Cushman & Wakefield's...

Let's not kid ourselves: it's a downturn.
May 5, 2008... As the credit squeeze started to bite, many people in the property industry kept ramming home the message that the fundamentals were still healthy. Yes, there was a problem, but it was a financial one, which had nothing to do with the occupier...

ING acquires another Orbis asset.
May 5, 2008... ING Real Estate has bought its third asset from Gazeley's Orbis portfolio for 20m. Gazeley is still planning to sell the portfolio's remaining nine assets after it failed to sell the whole portfolio at the end of last year.Invesco was set to...

Citygrove and partner to build [euro]150m retail centre.
May 5, 2008... UK retail developer teams up with Spanish supermarket chain Eroski UK retail developer Citygrove has signed an agreement for around 150m to build its first shopping centre in Spain. The shopping centre, in Algeciras, in the south of Spain,...

Benetton close to deal for Milan mixed-use asset.
May 5, 2008... Benetton is close to buying a prime office and retail asset in Milan for 95m, according to sources. The 8,000 m2 property, near the Piazza Cordusio and occupied by Unicredit and mobile phone company Tre, which has its flagship store there, was...

Meyer Bergman buys Kiev retail centre at above 10%.
May 5, 2008... European investor's purchase of 16,000 m2 Aladdin shopping complex demonstrates the strength of demand for commercial real estate in Ukraine European investor and asset manager Meyer Bergman European Retail Partners has bought the Aladdin...

UBS cuts jobs of staff hired from Credit Suisse.
May 5, 2008... UBS is believed to be axing the jobs of 12 staff that it poached from Credit Suisse under guarantee.Donald Belanger, former head of European real estate finance at Credit Suisse, along with members of his team, jumped ship to join UBS' EMEA...

Turkey bans foreigners from owning property.
May 5, 2008... Government expected to respond to constitutional court ruling, as investors rethink deals in the pipeline Foreign investors no longer have a right to own property in Turkey following a ruling by the country's constitutional court....

Chief investment officer Seddon leaves Valad.
May 5, 2008... David Seddon, former chief investment officer for Europe at Teesland iOG, now Valad, has left the firm after two-and-a-half years.Seddon was responsible for launching the "Aktiv" branded funds in the Nordic Region and Germany. The brand now has...

Three make shortlist to buy Steen & Strom.
May 5, 2008... Norwegian investment company Canica has selected three bidders to the second stage in the competition to buy property company Steen & Strom.The three bidders chosen out of an original 20 are to be Aberdeen, a private Norwegian investor, and a...

GE Real Estate eyes office part of German portfolio.
May 5, 2008... US firm sees opportunities as it bids for office portfolios of Westfonds assets GE Real Estate is set to buy the office packages of the Tristar portfolio in Germany, according to sources. Last year, unit holders of Westfonds, a fund...

Curzon to launch logistics vehicle.
May 5, 2008... Curzon Global Partners is launching Logistics III, a pan-European fund investing in logistic assets throughout Europe, not including central and eastern Europe. The fund is seeking to raise 350m in equity and will be able to invest up to...

CBRE and JLL post drops in income for first quarter.(Financial report)
May 5, 2008... Global figures show decreases in EMEA operating income, but CBRE reports rise in revenue for the region, and both CBRE and JLL post rises in Americas revenue Both CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang LaSalle reported falls in EMEA income for...

Key data: INREV.
May 5, 2008... - Non-listed funds database posts a total of 484 vehicles worth 297.6bn, with core funds accounting for 57% There are now 484 funds in the INREV Vehicles Database, with a total gross asset value of 297.6bn. Core vehicles account for 57%,...

Renta reports [euro]8.7m profit loss for Q1.(Financial report)
May 5, 2008... Renta Corporacion has posted an 8.7m loss for the first quarter this year, down from a 16m profit for the first quarter in 2007. Sales were 126.5m, 50% down year-on-year, but four times higher than the 28.6m from the previous quarter and about...

Valad to seed French mixed fund with Activity assets.
May 5, 2008... Australian property company Valad is seeding a French mixed commercial fund, believed to be around 500m in size, with three assets from the Activity portfolio it bought last year.The assets, worth around 70m, are in the Osny, Pantin and...