AXA completes 20 Gresham Street deal in London

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers (AXA REIM) has completed the acquisition of 20 Gresham Street, a 22,300 m² fully let office scheme in the City of London from UK group Hermes.

Although the transaction price was not disclosed, the acquisition is believed to amount to around £200 mln (EUR 233 mln).

The purchase - which was made on behalf of one of AXA's clients - marks a strong start to the year for the French investment manager which in 2010 completed over EUR 2.7 bn of transactions across Europe on behalf of clients, comprising EUR 1.1 bn of acquisitions and EUR 1.6 bn in sales.

Over the course of 2010, AXA REIM was active across Europe with France accounting for 47% of total transaction value, Switzerland, 16% of all deals, the UK, around 15%, and Germany, about 10%. Approximately 12% of the activity came from Italy, Benelux, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands.

In 2011, AXA REIM believes its transactions will follow similar geographic trends, but with a higher total volume, and include a small number of sales and acquisitions on behalf of its clients in Central Europe. Increased volumes are expected to be driven by a combination of factors including a continued but gradual improvement in the European economic climate, further bank deleveraging and the appeal of property as a fixed asset producing stable income in an inflationary market.

In the City of London, AXA REIM also completed at the end of last year the acquisition of 60 Holborn Viaduct, a new 215,000 sq ft Grade A office project which will be completed in Q2 2013.

'We are looking forward to a busy year ahead as we continue to leverage our pan-European platform and take advantage of what we expect to be a more liquid European real estate market. As a result, we expect to see an increased level of opportunities across the entire risk spectrum for AXA Real Estate to explore on behalf of its clients,' said Anne Kavanagh, global head of AXA Real Estate Property Services Group.