Cushman & Wakefield has become the second leading brokerage firm in Europe to submit a range of deals for PropertyEU’s Deal of the Decade Awards.
The firm has submitted 10 candidates from across the UK and mainland Europe including a range of flagship office buildings in London, Milan, Prague and Moscow as well as retail assets (Ruhr Park in Bochum and Wien Mitte in Vienna) and two portfolio deals (SEB Prime and Project Acqua).
The London-based EMEA capital markets team headed by Jan Willem Bastijn has also submitted Blackstone’s acquisition of Multi Corp’s debt which gave it access to a portfolio of shopping centres across the UK and Europe including St Enoch shopping centre in Glasgow. Blackstone’s acquisition of Multi Corp’s Debt was one of a number of deals in the US opportunistic investor has snapped up assets previously owned by a property arm of a bank.
Another submission revolves around the acquisition of Ruhr Park in Bochum, Germany by a joint venture of AXA Real Assets and Unibail-Rodamco from Perella Weinberg. According to Cushman & Wakefield, the transaction presented a ‘rare opportunity which necessitated a credible buyer, competitive pricing and a tight timeline’. All of these critical deal criteria were achieved, the advisor claims.
The Ruhr Park deal was the largest retail deal in 2015 in the German market.
Office deal
A landmark office deal that Cushman & Wakefield has submitted revolves around the sale of The Park in Prague, which was acquired by US investor Starwood from Aberdeen Asset Management. The transaction ranks as the largest office deal ever in the Czech Republic and also involved Clifford Chance and KPMG.
‘Completing a deal of this magnitude and complexity shows that international buyers and banks are committed to the market and can see the stability and value that the Czech Republic offers,’ Cushman & Wakefield said in the motivation for this submission.
Over the summer, the PropertyEU project team will be urging other advisors and investors to submit their candidates ahead of a selection for the shortlist. The submissions will be announced in our daily newsletter during July and August ahead of a readers’ vote in the autumn. The Deal of the Decade Awards will be presented during a ceremony in Amsterdam in December.
Do you have a deal that you would like to submit for the Deal of the Decade Awards?
For more information, go to: propertyeu.info/content/awards or mail irina@propertyeu.info
