Real estate investors continued to spread their nets wider in Europe, with secondary, or B cities accounting for a rising portion of trading volume in March, according to PropertyEU data.
Real estate investors continued to spread their nets wider in Europe, with secondary, or B cities accounting for a rising portion of trading volume in March, according to PropertyEU data.
PropertyEU Research identified investments in just over 20 secondary city locations from the list of the largest transactions last month. The volume for B locations was heavily influenced by London-listed Intu Properties buying three shopping centres from Westfield for over €1 bn. The assets are Westfield Centre in Derby and Merry Hill centre near Dudley in England and the Sprucefield retail park in Co Down, Northern Ireland.
A joint venture of pan-European investor Resolution Property and shoopping centre specialist ECE completed the second largest deal in a secondary city by taking over Poznan City Center for an estimated €250 mln. The shopping centre was part of a wider redevelopment of the local train station by a public-private partnership of developer Trigranit, opportunistic investor Europa Capital and Polish railway company PKP.
In Portugal, a fund operated by Sonae Sierra has taken full control of two shopping centres in the Algarve region. Sierra Portugal Fund (SPF) reached an agreement with GREP II, a fund managed by Grosvenor Fund Management, to acquire the remaining 50% stake it did not already own in AlbufeiraShopping and Centro Comercial Continente de Portimão. However, the financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The total for the 60 largest deals in March came to €5.8 bn, and deals in locations outside the main city markets and country capitals accounted for just over €1 bn.
An analysis of European real estate investment activity in the first quarter of 2014 appears in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine.
