Industry News

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc (‘Aviva’), announces that it has acquired The Vondel Portfolio – a collection of eight office assets in Amsterdam. It is the second purchase by Aviva Investors in Amsterdam’s office market in as many months, following its purchase of the FOZ building, a highly sustainable building located in the heart of Amsterdam’s business district, in March. The Vondel Portfolio sits on the outskirts of ‘Zuidas’ or ‘South Axis’, the central business...

IPUT Real Estate, Ireland’s leading property company and the largest owner of offices and logistics assets in Dublin, announces the acquisition of 118 acres of development land in north Dublin, which will enable it to double the size of its logistics portfolio to c. 5.5 million sq ft. The newly acquired site is strategically located less than 20 minutes’ drive from Dublin airport, off the M2 and close to the M50 orbital motorway, and adjacent to IPUT’s Nexus Distribution Park...

Meag, the asset manager of Germany's Munich Re Group and Ergo, has attracted Spanish insurance firm, Mapfre, for a core European office fund aiming to invest up to EUR500 million by 2023. Mapfre is the seed investor along with Meag, both of whom are contributing assets in the first place, but the fund will be opened to different institutional investors from Germany and Europe in 2024, leading the partners to think it could grow to EUR1 billion by 2025. This...

Global real estate investment manager Barings has sold four grocery retail assets in Barcelona to private equity fund MDSR Investments for an undisclosed sum. With a combined gross leasable area (GLA) of 16,000 m2, the properties are fully let to French supermarket chain Carrefour. The four assets are part of a portfolio of ten supermarkets acquired by Barings in December 2019. As part of its pan-European strategy, Barings’ intention is to divest of the non-core assets in the mid-term, while...

BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management (BNP Paribas REIM) has acquired an office complex in Vienna and the Franklinhaus office building in Berlin on behalf of the Next Estate Income Fund III. Both transactions were brokered as off-market deals. Financial details were not disclosed. The Berlin property, Franklinhaus, was completed in autumn 2021 and encompasses roughly 11,500 m2 in total rental area. It is composed of seven floors plus an underground parking offering 62 spaces for cars and 88 spaces...

Commerz Real is entering the Swedish photovoltaic market. The real assets subsidiary of Commerzbank has purchased two solar park projects with a total output of 69 MWp for its “Institutional Renewable Energies Fund II”: “Kings Roar” with an installed capacity of 21.7 MWp in the municipality of Västerås about 100 kilometres west of Stockholm and “Tierpark” with 47.3 MWp in Tierp about 130 kilometres to the north of the Swedish capital. According to statements by the seller, the Swedish project...

Moorfield Group, the UK-focused real estate fund manager, announces that it has entered into a development agreement with Melberry Developments (“Melberry”), on behalf of Moorfield Real Estate Fund IV, for a 282-room PBSA development in the historic market town of Colchester. In line with its ambitious 2030 net zero commitment, the project, which has Gross Development Value of GBP40 million, incorporates Moorfield’s first ESG-linked development agreement, with the development team specifically incentivised to achieve a BREEAM “Excellent” rating. The high-quality...

AEW, one of the world's leading real estate investment and asset managers, announces that it has agreed to acquire off market, on behalf of its specialist pan-European logistics strategy LOGISTIS, Würzburg East Park, a c. 78,000 sq m Grade A logistics development in the Dettelbach district of Würzburg, Germany. Würzburg East Park is pre-let to German fashion company s.Oliver on a 15 year lease and will serve as a central distribution warehouse for the brand’s activities in Europe. The scheme...

M&G’s EUR5 billion European Property Fund (the Fund) managed by David Jackson and Simon Ellis has won record inflows of EUR524 million between January and March this year – the largest amount raised in a single quarter in the Fund’s 15-year history. The capital comes from three new and four existing clients in Europe and Asia. A combination of the Fund’s international investor base, long term performance and the track record of its management team all contributed to the Fund’s...