GLOBAL - An undisclosed Danish pension fund has sold 7 Rue Saint Georges in the 9th district of Paris to the French real estate investment trust Foncière Massena.

The deal was led by Cushman & Wakefield Investors on behalf of the pension fund.

The asset was sold at the end of last year for approximately €22m, excluding registration duties.

In Switzerland, the private equity real estate investor Corestate Group has acquired a portfolio comprising 3,000 residential apartments in Berlin and an office building in Stuttgart. 

The properties were acquired for approximately €230m from a foreign investor who had purchased the assets during the peak of the German real estate market.

Meanwhile, the German investor Union Investment has acquired Sophienhof shopping centre in Kiel (Germany) from Aberdeen Immobilien Kapitalanlagegesellschaft for its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Deutschland.

Sophienhof formed part of the DEGI Europa open-ended real estate fund, which has been managed by Aberdeen since 1972.

Still in Germany, Patrizia Immobilien has acquired 986 apartments and three commercial units in Munich and Germering.

The purchase was made in the context of a co-investment, 'WohnModul I', in which a German pension fund is participating alongside Patrizia.

The investment amounted to approximately €140m.

Munich saw another transaction at the end of last year, with Real IS acquiring the corporate headquarters of Schörghuber.

Real IS said it has earmarked the asset for a new investment fund of the 'Bayernfonds' format that will focus on Germany.
 
Moving to France, CBRE Global Investors has bought the Centre Commercial Boissénart from Klépierre for approximately €68m.

CBRE, which acquired the commercial centre through its European Shopping Centre Fund (ESCF), said it would continue implementing its investment strategy, which is to focus on shopping centres with a strong track record in the core markets of Continental Europe.

The deal is the ESCF's first acquisition. 

In other news, UBS (Lux) Real Estate Euro Zone has recently completed two transactions in France and Germany worth more than €30m.
 
In late December 2011, UBS Euro Core sold an office asset, Chartreuse, in Fontenay-Sous-Bois to Primonial Real Estate Investment Management for €19.6m.

In January 2012, UBS Euro Core acquired a logistics asset in Heilbronn, Germany, from Hansteen for approximately €13.4m.

UBS Euro Core is also committed to purchasing the second phase of a logistics asset in Vantaa, Helsinki, at the end of the first quarter of this year.

The fund acquired Phase I of the Tiilitie project from YIT in June 2011.

Still in Europe, Orchard Street Investment Management has acquired, on behalf of St James's Place Wealth Management, the remaining 50% freehold interests it did not already own in St Catherine's Walk shopping centre in Carmarthen (UK) for a total of £26.5m (€32m).

The fund manager also acquired a B&Q retail warehouse in Stevenage for a total of £14.2m.

The vendors are funds managed by Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.
 
Still in the UK, Legal & General Property has acquired Stevenage Leisure Park from Aviva Life & Pensions UK for £40m.

The transaction, which reflects a net initial yield of 6.5%, provides a defensive income profile, according to L&G.
 
Meanwhile, LaSalle Investment Management has completed the acquisition of Market Walk Shopping Centre in Newton Abbot, Devon, on behalf of a retained pension fund client.

Details of the transaction, such as the price and the name of the pension fund, have not been disclosed.
 
Finally, in the US, a joint venture between Weston, Florida-based InSite Group and London-based Cube Capital has acquired the 394-room Royal Plaza Hotel, located in Lake Buena Vista in the Walt Disney World Resort.

The deal represents the third joint venture acquisition between InSite Group and Cube Capital.

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