Industry News

The property arm of Dutch insurer ASR is buying Sweco Capital Consultants to help grow its real estate and infrastructure offerings globally. The ASR Real Estate team will merge with Sweco Capital Consultants, an independent consultant employing 16 people. As part of the deal, Jeroen Winkelman co-head of Sweco Capital Consultants and Herman Gelauff a senior consultant and head of the firm’s real assets investments will become part of the management team of the newly combined investment partners team. Established...

Spanish private fund manager Meridia Capital has completed the sale of the Sea Towers complex to German fund manager Allianz Real Estate in an off-market deal worth EUR185 million. The 29,000 m2 sea-front project consists of two office buildings and is located within the 22@ district, a prime business area in Barcelona. The sale was initially agreed last summer. Commenting on the deal, Meridia Capital chairman Javier Faus said it represents ‘an example of collaboration with local authorities to promote...

US asset management firm Blackstone is seeking to expand its footprint in Ireland with new deals worth over EUR1 billion. According to React News, Blackstone has snatched up two large buildings in Dublin on long term leases to tech companies Facebook and Salesforce. The first is Fibonacci Square, part of Facebook’s European HQ at Ballsbridge, comprising of around 80,000 m2 and fully-let on a 25-year lease. Blackstone’s second target is Spencer Place at North Wall Quay, a 35,303 m2 suare...

M7 Real Estate (“M7”), the pan-European investor and asset manager specialising in multi-tenanted properties, announces that it has agreed 12 new lettings totalling c. 2,800 sq m of space at Ateliers H, a newly refurbished mixed light industrial and office asset in Herblay, France, on behalf of an institutional separate account mandate. Having acquired the property in June 2021 with an occupancy of 30% M7 carried out a comprehensive refurbishment including the parking areas, facades, common areas, vacant units, as...

Barings has bought a GBP215 million (EUR250.3 million) mixed-use development in the UK. The manager said it has acquired Soapworks in Bristol on behalf of a ”retained client” and will work with developer Socius to deliver the scheme. The scheme has planning consent for 154,000sqft of flexible office accommodation as well as 243 build-to-rent apartments, and 18,800sqft of flexible ground floor retail, hospitality and leisure space. Darren Hutchinson, managing director and head of UK real estate transactions at Barings, said...

Pan-European investor Patron Capital and its joint venture partner Sonar Real Estate have acquired a vacant office building in Germany from Commerz Real’s CFB 134 fund for an undisclosed sum. The 457,000sqft Prisma building at Hahnstrasse 55 in Frankfurt was built in 2001. Sonar will be responsible for the asset management and proposed repositioning of the building. Christoph Ignaczak, a senior partner at Patron Capital, said: “This project represents an exciting opportunity to create a state-of-the-art, attractive office property as...

Global real estate investment manager LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle) has completed the acquisition of a fully pre-let senior living property in central Toulouse through a forward-funding agreement with the French developer Cogedim. The transaction has been made on behalf of Encore+, LaSalle’s flagship pan-European fund, and represents the fund’s first investment in the senior living space. The acquisition also represents LaSalle’s first investment in senior living in continental Europe and builds upon its expertise in and exposure to the sector...

Deka Immobilien has acquired a further office property in Stuttgart for the new Domus Megatrends Europa special fund for an undisclosed amount. The property had been held in a joint venture between the Barings Real Estate European Value-Add Fund I (BREEVA I) and a retained US client of Barings. After purchases in Dublin and Madrid, the property is the third investment for the fund under development. The five-storey Leo Business Campus Bauteil E office building was completed in 2019. It...

BMO Real Estate Partners (BMO REP) has made the first acquisition for its new Europe residential fund. The manager said the BMO Europe Residential FCP-RAIF fund, which seeks raise to raise €800m, has acquired a 5,600sqm property at Paviljoensgracht 1-3 in The Hague for an undisclosed amount. The six-storey building was built in 1983 as an office and commercial building and was converted into a residential building over the last two years. The BMO Europe Residential FCP-RAIF fund, categorised as...