A vehicle advised by pensions asset manager Waypoint this week agreed to buy the portfolio of listed rental homes group PRS REIT for £628.6m (€714.3m).
The 114.9p cash bid, which has to be approved by shareholders in December, represents a 27.43% premium to the company’s average share price of the past six months but also reflects a 20% discount to NAV.
Also this week, investor G City bought €57m worth of additional shares in Citycon and said it is to launch a mandatory public tender offer for the remaining shares in the Finnish commercial property landlord.
These deals reflect strong activity in the listed property sector, which continues to offer attractive discounts with the added bonus of increased liquidity.
Xiaoxiao Fu, CenterSquare portfolio manager, real estate securities in London, said: “We believe public real estate markets have corrected more efficiently than the private real estate market and this arbitrage creates an opening for tactical investment opportunities. We expect to see more capital being allocated to the REIT space in Europe.”
Fu expects to see European listed property companies become bigger and more efficient by utilising the cost-of-capital advantage to increase scale and subsequently deliver higher earnings growth.
“The smaller and inefficient companies will continue to be subject to M&A activity. This will result in the REIT market evolving to have more companies with bigger market cap and higher liquidity, which will attract more capital from generalists.”
Also this week, four big living packages changed hands across Europe, including Argis’ acquisition of a portfolio of 1,016 homes in various locations in Spain for €324m. Similarly, Azora, in a joint venture with Twentytwo Real Estate Fund III, entered the French market with the purchase of the Senior Independent Living business of Emeis Group. The transaction added 17 properties and a total of 1,850 apartments to Azora’s existing portfolio.
| Recently completed deals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Buyer | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Key facts |
| PRS REIT portfolio | corporate | UK | Waypoint | PRS REIT | 5,478 homes | £629 (€714) | The 114.9p sale will have to be approved by shareholders in December. |
| residential portfolio | living | Spain | Argis | Acciona | 1,000apartments | €324 | The sale includes eleven assets in various stages of construction, scheduled for completion in 2026, located in Madrid, Barcelona and Terrassa. |
| European portfolio of multifamily and student accommodation assets | living | Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden | Savills IM and EDF Invest | European Living Fund | NA | €220 | Plans are to acquire and manage a European portfolio of multifamily and student accommodation assets worth over €600m in the next two years. |
| senior independent living platform of Emeis | living | France | TwentyTwo Real Estate, Azora | Emeis | 1,850 apartments | €200 | The portfolio comprises 17 properties and 1,850 apartments located in major French cities, including Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Amiens and Reims. |
| Senior Independent Living portfolio of 17 assets | living | France | Azora, Twentytwo Real Estate Fund III | Emeis | 1,850apartments | €159 | The portfolio will be managed by Jardins d’Arcadie. |
| logistics centre | logistics | Ludvika, Sweden | Logistri | Torngrund Group | 103,000m2 | €115 (SEK1254) | The buildings will house Hitachi Energy Sweden AB’s new logistics centre. |
| resi portfolio | living | Denmark | Storebrand | PBU | 9 assets | €107 | In connection with the sale, the pension fund has also become an investor in Storebrand Nordic Real Estate Fund II. |
| two logistics properties | logistics | Tychy and Bierun, Poland | Hillwood | Deka Immobilien | 153,000m2 | €100 | The assets are Logistics Park Tychy,and Logistics Park Bierun. |
| three multi-let warehouse estates | logistics | Poland | NA | Abrdn European Logistics Income | 91,000m2 | €84 | The properties were constructed between 2018 and 2020. |
| 110 Cannon St and Martin House | office | London | NA | Classic Beauty Holdings | NA | £72 (€82) | The sale reflects a net initial yield of 6.79%. |
| logistics centre | logistics | Munich | Global Gate | Aventos | 13,000m2 | NA | The asset is fully let to Garmin, a US-based multinational technology company. |
| nine light industrial properties | logistics | Sweden | Areim | NA | 17,000m2 | NA | The acquired properties are 95% let. |
| two strategic properties at Steinfurtstraat 9 and Park Forum 1119-1121 | logistics | Zwolle, Eindhoven | Pictet Alternative Advisors and Stoneweg | Edmond de Rothschild | 17,000m2 | NA | These purchases follow the recent launch of Axis in September. |
| Raiffeisenstraße 5-7 | logistics | Frankfurt | M7 Real Estate | NA | 19,000m2 | NA | This acquisition has been undertaken on behalf of the European Supply Chain Income Partnership, a European industrial and logistics investment vehicle backed by M7’s owners Oxford Properties and AustralianSuper. |
| logistics centre | logistics | Buchelay, France | Union Investment | Weinberg Capital Partners | 18,690m2 | NA | The property is fully let on a long-term basis to beverage distributor France Boissons. |
| two logistics assets | logistics | Greve and Odense, Denmark | Slättö | NA | 12,900m2 | NA | The acquisition represents the first investment in the logistics space for the buyer. |
| Assets on the market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | Asset type | Location | Vendor | Size | Price (mln) | Broker | Key facts |
| Am Postbahnhof 15 | office | Berlin | JP Morgan | 19,000m2 | €200 | NA | Boston Consulting Group is the anchor tenant of the recently completed asset. |
| 41 Upper Grosvenor Street site | development | London | North Wind Capital | NA | £100 (€114) | Knight Frank and UK Sotheby’s International Realty | The scheme currently sits in the final pre-construction phase. |
| Rosenstrasse asset | office | Hamburg | Wealthcap | NA | €75 | NA | The property is fully leased to Hapag Lloyd AG. |
| Oxford Castle Quarter | hotel | Oxford | Westgate Partnership | 95 rooms | £30.94 (€35) | CBRE | The estate is fully let, benefiting from a weighted average unexpired lease term of 14.8 years. |
| 69 Park Lane | office | Croydon, London | CEG | 82,977sqft | £19 (€22) | Hanover Green LLP | The sale reflects a net initial yield of 9.6%. |
| Camden Yard | mixed | Dublin | Grant Thornton | 37,812m2 and 299 apartments | NA | CBRE | The project is back on the market after Orange Capital Partners (OCP) failed to complete the acquisition. |
| Recently completed loans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lender(s) | Borrower(s) | Asset(s) | Loan Size (mln) | Key facts |
| Bond investors | Vonovia | Unsecured | €2250 | The bonds, with an average coupon of 3.96%, were oversubscribed 3.4 times. |
| Bond investors | Tritax Big Box REIT | Unsecured | £300 (€342) | The company priced the unsecured seven-year bonds with an interest rate of 4.75%, at 85 basis points over the seven-year benchmark gilt. |
| Cerberus | Partners Group and Host | student schemes in Colchester, Bournemouth and Leicester and a coliving asset | £100 (€114) | All the PBSA assets are operated by Host and have been developed by its sister company Tiger Developments. |
| ING, Deutsche Hypo-NORD/LB Real Estate Finance | Hines | Stay Cuatro Vientos and Nexus San Fernando | €96 | The five-year loan refinances the assets. |
| ING | Accolade | Spanish industrial assets | €56 | The five-year loan will enable the refinancing of four industrial parks located in Burgos, Valencia, Seville and Vitoria. |
| Hamburg Commercial Bank AG (HCOB) | Arrow Global | 80 condominiums in Duesseldorf | ~€50 | The units, completed in 2024, are currently for sale. |
| Cheyne Capital | Champneys | Champneys portfolio | £32 (€36) | The deal will support Champneys’ next phase of expansion, featuring refurbishment and upgrade of all bedrooms across Champneys’ portfolio. |
| Puma | North Bay | Care home schemes in York, County Durham and Preston | £31 (€35) | The developments are targeting completion in Q4 2026. |
| Octopus Healthcare Fund | Synergy Care | completed schemes in Nottingham and Peterborough | £30 (€34) | The asset will be operated by Acacia Care. |
| Eldridge | Mago | Notting Hill Estate | NA | The investment loan will finance the acquisition of the asset. |
| BayernLB | Hines | CENTRAL project in Stuttgart | NA | The project is due for delivery in 2026. |
| New mandates/JVs and funds on the market | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm | Fund/mandate/JV | Strategy | Details |
| Cerberus Capital Management | Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners VII | Investing in real estate credit and equity with an opportunistic profile | The fund is looking to raise $3bn of commitments, with an initial closed planned for H1 2026. |
