Irish-headquartered developer and operator Echelon Data Centres has secured an initial €1.7bn loan financing provided by Morgan Stanley “to continue its planned expansion across Europe”.
Echelon now has eight campuses across Europe totalling 1.2GW of capacity, of which 400MW is operational or under development. It will use the new financing to grow the campus portfolio across Ireland, the UK, Spain and Italy.
Over the past 15 months, the firm has expanded into Spain in a joint venture with Europe’s largest utility group Iberdrola, as well as into Italy. ”Demand for digital infrastructure across Europe is substantial and long term, and our ambition is to continue expanding our platform to support the growth of our customers in key strategic markets,” said David Smith, deputy CEO of Echelon Data Centres.
Also this week, Unite Students sold the 571-bed St Pancras Way residence in London to the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund, a Unite joint venture with Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, for £186m (€212.4m).
Unite, which just released its results for the year ended 31 December 2025, has lowered its profit outlook after reporting a lower-than-expected performance with occupancy rates dropping 2 ppt year-on-year in 2025 and rental growth slowing down.
Currently, about 68% of Unite’s beds are reserved for the next year, compared to 71% a year before. Unite warned that it would deliver occupancy and rental growth towards the lower end of its guidance ranges, of 93%-96% and 2%-3% respectively in the 2026-27 academic year. It is now expecting rental growth of around 2%, compared to 4% a year earlier.
In Italy, Zanklon Capital launches the construction this week of three new PBSA developments in Messina on the island of Sicily. Delivering 1,835 student beds, the projects are expected to be operational by 2029. The residences will be operated and managed by Yugo.
| Recently completed deals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Buyer | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Key facts |
| London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square and the fully consented 8–10 Grafton Street and 22-24 Barlow Place development site | hotel | London | Evolution Investment Fund | O&H Grafton Developments Limited | 198,000sqft | €1261 | The projectwill include 94 hotel keys and six luxury residences, with plans by Forster & Partners to deliver a 12-storey tower. |
| 20 prime logistics properties | logistics | Sweden, Finland and Denmark | Catena | Urban Partners | 612,000m2 | €830 | With a 97% occupancy rate and long lease terms, the transaction marks the largest single Nordic logistics asset transaction to date. |
| nine public-sector properties | public | Sweden | AP7 | Castellum | 110,000m2 | €525 | The assets are located in Borås, Gothenburg, Jönköping, Malmö, Mölndal and Örebro. |
| Nexus collection | living | France | Tikehau | GIC | 78,000m2 | €350 | The sale of 1,300 housing units marks the largest transaction in the traditional residential sector in France for the year. |
| St Pancras Way | living | London | Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund | Unite | 571 beds | £186 (€213) | The deal reflects a Net Operating Income yield of 4.7%. |
| logistics portfolio of eight assets | logistics | Poland | WP Carey | Raben Group | 150,000m2 | €169 | The portfolio is master leased for a term of 15 years with annual inflation-based rent increases. |
| five logistics properties | logistics | Sweden and Denmark | Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan | Urban Partners | 118,000m2 | €160 | The sale was carried out on behalf of the funds NSF III, NSF IV, NSF V and NIP. |
| Oasiz shopping centre | retail | Madrid | Cale Street Investment | Carlotta Iberia receivers | 90,000m2 | €140 | PKF Attest was appointed by a Madrid Commercial Court in January to manage the insolvency proceedings of Carlotta Iberia. |
| The Broadway | retail | Bradford, UK | Eurofund | Law of Property Act receivers | 572,876sqft | £70 (€80) | Savills brought the mall to market last year seeking £74m or a net initial yield of 9.5%. |
| Caroline Hus | mixed | Copenhagen | Wihlborgs | Udviklingsselskabet Carlsberg Byen | 10,300m2 | €50 | The property was completed in 2022. |
| mixed portfolio | mixed | Berlin | M&G Real Estate | BlueRock Group AG | 75 homes | €47 | The portfolio of 302 apartments and 27 commercial units will benefit from a €47m investment to develop 75 new homes in the centre of Berlin. |
| resi portfolio at Ansbacher Straße 8–14 | living | Berlin | DWS | Optima-Aegidius Group | 148 units | NA | This marks the inaugural investment for the firm’s European Real Estate Partners (EREP) value-add strategy. |
| logistics facility | logistics | Dürrholz, Germany | Clarion Partners Europe | NA | 41,000m2 | NA | Completed in phases between 2006 and 2019, the single-tenant property is occupied by Best4Tires. |
| resi portfolio | living | Germany | Edmond de Rothschild REIM | NA | NA | NA | The deal marks the first investment under its new German Residential Alpha strategy. |
| logistics asset | logistics | Le Bignon, France | AEW Europe | 6e Sens Immobilier | 19,000m2 | NA | The property is fully let to one of France’s leading express parcel delivery providers, with a WAULT of 11 years. |
| two historic buildings | mixed | Hamburg | Values Real Estate | NA | 7,500m2 | NA | The assets primarily hosts the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg’s Ministry of Culture and Media. |
| Lambeth Hospital site | living | London | L&G, PGGM and Nest | NHS | 6 acres | NA | Plans are to deliver a £350m BTR neighbourhood of 700 homes, including private and affordable homes. |
| three hotels | hotel | UK | Sanraj Group | Ares Real Estate and EQ | 478 rooms | NA | The assets are Novotel Leeds Centre, Novotel Glasgow Centre and Ibis Glasgow. |
| student residence | living | Barcelona | Azora | LaSalle IM and Urbania | 14,500m2 | NA | The property comprises 610 en-suite single rooms, 196 of which include private kitchens. |
| 90 Whitfield Street | mixed | London | Lone Star Funds | Derwent London | 107,000sqft | NA | The office and retail asset is located in central London’s West End sub-market of Fitzrovia. |
| Waterfront commercial district | development | Genoa | Ceetrus Italy spa, Runca srl | Orion Capital Managers, CDS Holding spa | NA | NA | The development project started in 2021 and involves an investment of €350m. |
| Assets on the market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Broker | Key facts |
| resi portfolio | living | Ludwigshafen, Germany | BASF | 4,400 units | €400 | na | These homes are primarily occupied by current and former BASF employees. |
| Aloft Madrid Gran Vía | hotel | Madrid | Henderson Park | 280 rooms | €210 | JLL | The sale of the assets, held as a single lot, include the Aloft Madrid Gran Vía together with several ground-floor retail units. |
| resi portfolio | living | Helmstedt, Germany | NA | 116,000m2 | NA | CR Investment Management | The portfolio comprises a total of around 1,980 residential units spread across 87 buildings. |
| Recently completed loans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender(s) | Borrower(s) | Asset(s) | Loan Size (mln) | Key facts |
| Morgan Stanley | Echelon | European data centre portfolio | €1700 | The financial support will allow Echelon to grow its development pipeline and expand its campus portfolio across Ireland, the UK, Spain and Italy. |
| CMBS noteholders | ACG Equity Partners | The Squaire | €757 | Owner consortium has until June 20298 to raise occupancy levels in the asset. |
| Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking | Quintain | Wembley BTR project | £310 (€355) | The refinancing covers Canada Gardens and Madison, which together comprise 1,124 homes within Quintain’s large-scale Wembley Park neighbourhood. |
| PGIM | Centerscape | grocery-anchored retail portfolio across Germany | €325 | The loan combines fixed and floating rates to refinance a portfolio of 85 assets. |
| Aviva Investors | Lazari Investments | London office portfolio | £270 (€235) | The five‑year facility refinances existing debt and support capital expenditure across its prime London office portfolio. |
| Intesa Sanpaolo and BPM | IGD | Italian retail portfolio | €165 | The green loan was provided by a pool of banks. |
| AIB | Pandox | European hotel portfolio | €150 | The facility supports the acquisition of the Dalata Group portfolio. |
| PKO Bank Polski | ELI | Polish industrial portfolio | €136 | The loan will be used consolidate and refinance existing stand-alone facilities at various developments. |
| Aareal | Hillwood Polska | Polish logistics portfolio | €120 | The transaction included the refinancing and upsizing of the existing facility, bringing the total value of loans provided by Aareal to the Hillwood Polska portfolio to €440m. |
| Värde Partners | Pandion | German residential portfolio | €100 | The financing is secured by a portfolio of 13 Pandion resi projects in major German cities. |
| pbb, HanseMerkur Grundvermögen, HanseMerkur Grundvermögen | PGE Grundstücksgesellschaft Europaviertel mbH | Timber Pioneer office building in Frankfurt | €89 | The facility includes a €69m green loan and a €20m subordinated facility. |
| Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG | Realterm | logistics portfolio in the Netherlands and Belgium | €62.5 | The facility is provided at a loan-to-value slightly above 60%. |
| Deutsche Hypo – NORD/LB Real Estate Finance | AVW Immobilien AG | Parkvillen Potsdam residential and commercial project | €43 | The loan will fund the construction of a total of seven buildings |
| New mandates/JVs and funds on the market | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm | Fund/mandate/JV | Strategy | Details |
| MEAG and Culmia | Affordable Housing JV | Aiming to expand rental housing supply with rents set 20% to 30% below market levels. | The platform will initially launch with 1,782 homes and is projected to exceed 2,500 homes. |
| The two partners are investing €400m. | |||
| NYSCRF | EQT Exeter Europe Logistics Value Fund V | The value-add fund targets €2.5bn to invest in European logistics, warehouses, and industrial assets. | The retirement fund committed €150m. |
| OneIM | London hospitality strategy | Acquiring and converting suitable assets into lifestyle-led extended-stay and aparthotel properties | The firm has committed £335m to the new strategy. |
