French asset manager Amundi Real Estate is understood to have signed the acquisition of the so-called Aqua pan-European office portfolio which was put on the market earlier this year by owner, Union Investment Real Estate.

French asset manager Amundi Real Estate is understood to have signed the acquisition of the so-called Aqua pan-European office portfolio which was put on the market earlier this year by owner, Union Investment Real Estate.

According to a market source, Amundi has agreed the purchase which involves 17 office properties held by various Union retail and institutional funds and includes assets in the cities of London, Paris, Vienna, Helsinki, Frankfurt, Munich and Rotterdam.

The assets provide a total of 278,000 m2 and generate around €60 mln in annual rents.

Germany's Union Investment Real Estate confirmed in March that it had put the multi-country office portfolio on the market to take advantage of the current strong demand for European property. The company hired broker JLL to manage the sales process.

Market sources at the time put the value of the portfolio at between €900 mln and €1 bn.

According to a news report by PropertyWeek, Amundi is now buying the package for a price of €1.1 bn, or a premium of at least 10% on the asking price. The deal marks one of the first multi-country portfolio deals in Europe since the crisis.

All parties declined to comment.

PORTFOLIO SALES
Brokers estimated there is currently €6 bn of portfolio sales in Europe as vendors seek to benefit from strong investor demand for real estate.

'This is the time to sell, vendors are getting a premium for size, as was the case in 2005-06. There's a lot of global money chasing bigger deals,' Chris Bell, managing director Europe at Knight Frank, told PropertyEU.

CBRE GIP has just emerged as the buyer of Project Viking for €346 mln. The logistics package was acquired from Warburg Invest HIH and US investor TIAA-CREF and involves seven logistics properties in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.

The portfolio comprises a total rental area of over 55,700 m2.

Similarly, Ares Management has reportedly agreed to buy a pan-European office portfolio from German fund manager IVG Immobilien for close to €500 mln, or a 20% premium on the initial asking price.

According to a news report by UK magazine PropertyWeek, Los Angeles-based Ares is in exclusivity to buy IVG Immobilien’s subsidiary IVG Institutional Funds’ Project Traction portfolio.

Project Traction comprises 30 office assets located predominantly in France and the Netherlands and has a total annual rent roll of around €30 mln.

In the UK, investors have a month left to submit offers for Ardent, probably one of the last in a series of major student accommodation portfolios to come to market in the country. Knight Frank is marketing the Ardent portfolio and expects to secure a sale for in excess of £400 mln (€550 mln) by the end of the year. The deadline for offers is 24 July 2015.