AEW Europe reports EUR 4.1b of transactions in 2007

Real estate investment manager AEW Europe said on Tuesday that it had acquired over EUR 1.3 bn of assets and arbitrated a further EUR 2.8 bn worth of deals in 2007, representing more than a 50% increase on the volumes the year before.

AEW Europe, a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management, said in a report on its activities that the transactions were carried out primarily in France, Germany and in Central Europe. The most significant acquisitions completed on behalf of its clients included the purchase of a portfolio of 250 commercial assets in France, covering 170,000 m2, for EUR 452 mln; acquiring the Spazio office building in Nanterre for EUR 193 mln and buying a German portfolio of 68 commercial assets, covering 163,000 m2, for EUR 300 mln.

For its Euroffice fund, AEW bought the 11,000 m² Colisée II office building in the French city of Saint-Ouen for EUR 78 mln and a 20,000 m² office property in Hamburg for around EUR 58 mln. On behalf of it PBW II fund, the company has purchased a 53,000m² shopping centre in Romania for EUR 193 mln; an office building in the heart Bucharest for EUR 120 mln and an office portfolio in the Czech Republic for EUR 45 mln. In Poland, the fund bought a shopping centre in Warsaw for EUR 146 mln.

AEW Europe’s Curzon CCP II fund acquired a portfolio of office properties in Frankfurt for EUR 42 mln, while its EPI fund acquired two commercial portfolios for EUR 80 mln and EUR 152 mln.