Union Investment Real Estate and BNP Paribas REIM France have become the latest investors to stake their claims to membership of the select club of top dealmakers who attracted the biggest capital flows and bought and sold the most real estate in Europe during 2014.

Union Investment Real Estate and BNP Paribas REIM France have become the latest investors to stake their claims to membership of the select club of top dealmakers who attracted the biggest capital flows and bought and sold the most real estate in Europe during 2014.

On Friday, Hamburg-based Union Investment announced it acquired 30 properties for €2.5 bn and sold another 23 for about €1 bn in 2014 as it stepped up the turnover rate in its real estate fund portfolios.

The €3.5 bn transaction volume equates to 15.3% of Union Investment's total real estate portfolio which is valued at €22.8 bn. Portfolio turnover in the prior year was 13.1%.

Union Investment said that the faster portfolio turnover further improved the age profile of the real estate funds, with the average economic age of the real assets held in its retail funds (open-ended funds) currently running at 9.9 years. This makes the portfolio 0.3 years younger than at year-end 2011.

'We remain committed to the policy of active portfolio management we adopted many years ago,' said Reinhard Kutscher, chairman of the management board of Union Investment Real Estate. 'Rejuvenating the portfolios is an active precaution against risk. It serves to optimise the holdings on an ongoing basis, securing future income and value for our 800,000 private investors and many institutional investors.'

BNP PARIBAS REIM FRANCE
Earlier, Paris-based BNP Paribas REIM France said it invested more than €819 mln across 32 assets on behalf of its managed funds last year. The main property sectors were office (49%), retail (27%) and healthcare (18%). During the last 12 months BNP Paribas REIM France sold some €150 mln of 'maturing assets or those requiring work'.

Turning to 2015, Jacqueline Faisant, chairman of BNP Paribas REIM France, said the company would pursue an 'ambitious' investment programme to reinforce its strategy of portfolio diversification, both geographically and in terms of assets. 'The start of the year has already been very dynamic. In retail, in particular, we have recently acquired a building off-plan from Vinci Immobilier containing shops, services and restaurant facilities, located at Cannes train station. Two other food outlets are subject to undertakings in the Paris region,' she added.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management France is part of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management business line which manages close to €18 bn of assets in Europe at end-June 2014.

PATRIZIA IMMOBILIEN
Several other European investors have reported even larger real estate transaction volumes for 2014. For instance, Patrizia Immobilien, the German listed investor and consortium-builder, said it carried out €4.1 bn of purchases and divestments of residential and commercial properties in 2014.

Patrizia acquired residential and commercial properties valued at €3.4 bn in Germany and other European markets, and sold assets for over €700 mln. The transactions were divided between fund investments, co-investments and the company's own investments.

The company made a big push beyond its domestic German market by acquiring €1.8 bn of residential and commercial real estate in other European markets. This was over 2.5 times the non-German volume of €500 mln in 2013.

'We have again demonstrated our ability to recognise investment opportunities at an early stage even abroad and to leverage these opportunities successfully together with our customers,' said Patrizia CEO Wolfgang Egger. 'In 2014 alone, we raised approximately €1.5 bn of new equity from institutional investors in Germany and abroad. There are now more than 170 insurers, pension funds, sovereign funds and savings banks that look to Patrizia for successful real estate investments in Europe.'

Based in Augsburg, Patrizia manages €14 bn of real estate, primarily as co-investor and portfolio manager for insurance companies, pension fund institutions, sovereign wealth funds and savings banks.

TOP INVESTORS RANKING
Since it was founded in 2006, PropertyEU has sought to foster transparency in the European real estate sector. Our Top Investors survey and ranking, published twice a year, is a key element of this strategy. The March edition focuses on dealmakers, transactions and volumes, while the October edition seeks to identify the largest players in terms of assets under management. The survey which will form the basis of the March edition has been sent to over 200 companies.

Based on the rankings of previous years, Patrizia, with its €4.1 bn of transactions, may retain its position within the 10 top dealmakers. However, the 2014 volume is down on the €4.6 bn of acquisitions and disposals which put Patrizia in third place in last year's dealmakers ranking.

Union Investment Real Estate was ranked 12th overall with a total transaction volume of almost €2.7 bn - just over €2 bn in acquisitions and almost €640 mln in sales in 2013.

BNP Paribas REIM was ranked in 21st position based on €1.1 bn of acquisitions and €700 mln in sales.

While the survey is still ongoing two investors tied to UK insurance giants seem likely to improve their rankings this year.

M&G Real Estate, part of insurance group Prudential PLC, said it carried out some £3.8 bn (€4.9 bn) of property acquisitions and sales during 2014. This is significantly up on its 2013 volume of €3.95 bn which led to M&G Real Estate being ranked in fifth place in our publication last March.

During 2014, more than £3.2 bn of property assets, with an average deal size of £50 mln, were acquired or committed to - around two thirds of which were achieved off-market. In the same period, M&G Real Estate disposed of 73 holdings to realise more than £590 mln in cash. M&G rounds off the total reported volume of more than £3.79 bn to around £4 bn.

Legal & General Property (LGP), part of insurance group Legal & General, has increased its activity even more significantly. Ranked in 8th place in March on a volume of €3.2 bn, LGP announced on 7 January that it had completed over £4.1 bn (€5.3 bn) of property transactions in the UK market alone in 2014.

Bill Hughes, managing director of Legal & General Property, commented: 'Concluding £4.1 bn of transactions in the past 12 months alone means that not only do we continue to be one of the most active UK property investors, but we have also continued to surpass our own strong track record of deal flow year on year. This has been achieved in part through the execution of creative, off-market deals and leading the way in the understanding of emerging sectors. For us, this is about strength of contacts and, above all else, quality over quantity.'

Cormac Mac Ruairi
Senior editor