A new newsletter for a new year

PropertyEU's New Year resolution to provide you with all the top deals and leading property stories from around Europe has coincided with our own first big step: a revamped newsletter.

We have optimised PropertyEU Daily News to deliver our comprehensive real estate news and analysis in easy-to-navigate sections in a format that is readily accessible whether you are at your desk or using a smart device on the move.

When you access the news headlines and analysis features on a smart phone or tablet, you are directed to our mobile site. Subscribers only need to log in once and to always have full access to our latest news. Not already a subscriber and want to get to know us first? Sign up for a free trial which gives two weeks unlimited access to our digital services.

The new-style newsletter comes amid a rising tide of investment activity. Our first newsletter of 2015 carried the news that there had been more than 20 transactions with an aggregate volume of over €7.5 bn in the period from 19 December to 2 January.

The volume was boosted by several mega deals in the last days of December involving investors hailing from the US. In the largest, private equity firm Lone Star acquired a diversified real estate portfolio in the UK from Moorfield for about £1 bn (€1.3 bn). In the second-largest, US REIT NorthStar teamed up with London-based Cale Street Partners to buy a European office portfolio from SEB Asset Management for €1.1 bn.

Around the same time, the European listed vehicle established by California-based investor Kennedy Wilson acquired a portfolio of 180 mixed-use properties located across the UK for around €642 mln.

Any fears that investor appetite was sated by the end-of-year splurge were quickly set aside in the week of 5 to 9 January when we reported another 37 large transactions spread across Europe. One of the stories concerned US investor Starwood Capital which is expected to get the green light on Monday 12 January for a €1.2 bn transaction that both marks its entry into Norway's property market and helps consolidates its position in neighbouring Sweden.

Browsing the other headlines we can see that Asian, Canadian and Middle Eastern equity is set to remain a feature of the European real estate investment market in 2015, alongside a more than healthy sprinkling of domestic European capital.

TOP INVESTORS
For several years now PropertyEU has drilled down beyond the headlines with our Top Investors rankings, which are published in March and October to rank the top dealmakers and largest real estate managers in European real estate.

As 2015 dawned our editorial and IT teams were busy sending out survey questionnaires - for the first time in a user-friendly online format - to hundreds of investors. The findings will form the basis for the March Top Investors publication on top dealmakers, and will feed into an online database on investors and their investment deals dating back beyond 2007.

Given the spate of deals already in the bag and the capital flooding the market, 2015 looks set to be another exciting year for European property.

Cormac Mac Ruairi
senior news editor

We welcome your feedback to help us further refine our newsletter and other products. Please use the 'write to the editor' function below to send us your comments