Cross-border investors plough EUR 1.3b into Paris in two days

Cross-border investors were behind three of the four top big-ticket real estate transactions in Paris in the first two weeks of March. Foreign buyers accounted for all but EUR 166 mln of the volume of EUR 1.4 bn for these deals.

Two of the Paris office acquisitions were also the largest transactions reported in Europe during this period, according to PropertyEU Research. The largest was Invesco Real Estate buying the Cité du Retiro and Néo office schemes in the French capital from KanAm grundinvest for some EUR 600 mln. The Kanam fund is in liquidation and is shedding assets in several European cities. Invesco was acting on behalf of an unidentified Middle Eastern fund.

The second-largest involved JP Morgan Asset Management signing a preliminary agreement with French real estate investment trust Eurosic to buy 54,500 m² of office space in Paris for a net sales price of EUR 508 mln. JP Morgan was acting for one of its funds. It is understood that Hong Kong money was behind that deal.

Ramsbury - one of just a handful of Swedish investment companies active outside the Nordics - also struck a deal in Paris during March. It exchanged contracts with UK-listed REIT Hammerson to acquire the freehold for a mixed-use scheme at 54-60 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris’ eighth arrondissement. The investment volume of EUR 165 mln was slightly above the December 2011 book value.

The only other EUR 100 mln-plus deal reported in the French capital in the first two weeks of March saw German fund Deka Immobilien selling Axe France office building in Paris for EUR 166 mln. DTZ Asset Management represented the French investors.

PropertyEU Research tracked just over EUR 3 bn of real estate deals in Europe in the first two weeks of March. After France, the most active markets were Germany with an estimated volume of EUR 380 mln and Sweden at EUR 327 mln. Just EUR 159 mln of transactions were reported in the UK during the period.