CBRE has advised Portuguese insurer Tranquilidade on the sale of 86 properties, in what is believed to be one of the largest transactions in Portugal in terms of the number of assets traded.
While the property adviser did not reveal the investment volume, Portuguese media reported the portfolio traded for €140 mln.
The portfolio was purchased by an institutional investor consortium, which will manage and refurbish the office, residential, retails and tourism assets, CBRE revealed on Friday. The portfolio is primarily focused in Lisbon and Porto.
'This is the biggest transaction undertaken by CBRE Portugal in terms of the number of assets and is one of the most significant deals on a national level,' said Nuno Nunes, capital markets director at CBRE in Portugal.
A collective disposal, rather than an asset-by-asset sale, was a key condition. The transaction was further complicated due to the nature of the assets and the fact the portfolio was held by several different entities within the insurance group.
Tranquilidade decided to sell the real estate to help focus on its core activity of providing insurance services. The group is said to have another €60 mln of real estate on the market.
Single-asset
This was the second of two major transactions last week in Portugal's increasingly active real estate investment market.
On 14 March London-based asset manager Signal Capital acquired the 48,000 m2 Entreposto Building - one of the largest office assets in Lisbon - for €65 mln.
C&W acted for the vendor and JLL represented the buyers. The property advisers said this was one of the largest single-asset investment transactions in Portugal this year. It lifts the spend on Portuguese offices since 1 January to €100 mln.
C&W has forecast that all-property volumes for the first half of 2017 could reach €800 mln, the third-best performance ever. While foreign investors are driving the market, domestic capital accounts for 30% of activity.
