Industry News

Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors has received a combined €288 million in commitments for two of its Dutch funds from new and existing investors. The company raised €196 million for its Office fund with the remaining €92 million allocated to its Residential fund. The decline in stock and bond prices last year triggered the ‘denominator effect’ of higher relative institutional allocations to real estate, thus exerting pressure on new commitments to property. Rising interest rates and construction costs, as well as...

PGIM Real Estate’s European Core Plus strategy has raised over €372 million less than six months after the inception of the new vehicle, according to details released by the firm. According to PGIM, the strategy targets Europe’s most liquid markets, allocating to sectors benefiting from structural trends driven by digitalisation, changing demographics and decarbonisation. It will invest in sectors such as last mile logistics; residential including rental, senior and student housing; and new generations of office. The strategy will also...

CBRE Investment Management has secured two new LGPS investors for its UK Affordable Housing Fund (AHF). Tyne and Wear Pension Fund and Scottish Borders Council Pension Fund bring the total number of LGPS subscribers to nine, with 23 investors overall and total equity commitments of over €568 million. AHF invests in social and affordable rented housing and affordable-ownership properties delivering measurable social outcomes. It was one of the first UK unlisted funds to bring institutional client capital into affordable housing...

Following its launch in January, M&G’s European Living Property Fund has purchased a new asset in Eglinton Place, Dublin for €99.5 million, adding to its €75 million maiden acquisition in Finland. The fund was launched in early January with €578 million of capital including €400 million of investment from MN, one of the largest pension administrators and asset managers of Dutch pension funds. It aims to provide institutional investors with attractive, risk-adjusted returns through investment into some of Europe’s student...

The real estate arm of Italian insurer Generali has announced the sale of a 50% interest in Fen Court, a landmark office building in the City of London. As part of the deal, Generali Real Estate, on behalf of Generali Group companies, transferred ownership of the asset to a new special purpose vehicle with German asset manager Meag, active on behalf of Munich Re, buying a 50% share. The Generali Group will continue to hold 50% in the same vehicle...

Brankica Davidovic joined the KanAm Grund Group team at the beginning of February as Associate Director/Co-Head of Asset Management Germany. In this role, she will be responsible for the Asset Management of the German assets together with Denis Brune as well as the planned expansion of activities in these areas. Denis Brune has been with the company since 2018 as Associate Director/Co-Head of Asset and Property Management Germany. Both report to Natalie Bialas, Director Head of Investment and Asset Management...

Josie McVitty has joined StepStone’s infrastructure and real assets arm after a two-year stint at New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund. According to McVitty’s LinkedIn profile, she has joined StepStone Infrastructure and Real Assets as principal, a role she took on last month. Prior to joining StepStone, McVitty had been a senior advisor at NZ Super Fund since February 2021 where she led the global infrastructure investment programme for the NZ$ 60 billion (€36 billion) sovereign wealth fund. She worked for...

Daniel Jessop has been appointed Head of Workthere Germany with effect from 1 February 2023. Based in Hamburg, he will manage and further expand Savills flexible office specialist in the country. Jessop joins from WeWork Deutschland GmbH where he was Leasing Director for Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich. Source: workthere.com on the 3rd of February 2023 https://www.workthere.com/en-gb/news-guides/news/daniel-jessop-takes-the-helm-at-workthere-in-germany/

Advisor CBRE has announced the addition of Robin Stenlund to its Sweden office as an advisor and specialist in hotels. Stenlund’s most recent position was at Newrest where he worked as CFO for Scandinavia. Prior to this, he held the role of investment manager and analyst in Hotel Real Estate Investments & Asset Management at Midstar AB. In 2022, CBRE increased its focus on hotels in the Nordics with the aim to deliver strategic and operational advice, as well as...