Legal & General Property (LGP) was the biggest spender on European real estate during March. according to PropertyEU data.

Legal & General Property (LGP) was the biggest spender on European real estate during March. according to PropertyEU data.

The property arm of UK financial group Legal & General carried out five investments, including two very large ones, totalling €1.2 bn in March, according to PropertyEU Research.

On 6 March Legal & General Property (LGP) pulled off the second largest reported deal in the month by acquiring a 55-asset portfolio of bank units, office s and industrial sites in the UK from Telereal Trillium for €665 mln. LGP also acquired 4,000 UK homes from Places for People for €300 mln. Its largest single asset transaction was buying a shopping centre in Dundee from UK REIT Land Securities for €150 mln. The final two deals were the acquisition of a leisure park in Middlesbrough and a distribution centre in Birmingham for €25 mln and €40 mln respectively.

London-listed shopping centre owner Intu Properties was responsible for the largest portfolio deal in March. It acquired two shopping centres in England and one in Northern Ireland from the Sydney-listed Westfield Group for just over €1 bn.

US private equity group Blackstone was the biggest spender in Continental Europe, thanks to its acquisition of a logistics portfolio of 17 assets in Germany and France for €473, and a portfolio of five office and retail properties in Italy from AXA Immoselect for €180 mln.

German fund manager Deka Immobilien carried out the largest number of deals on the Continent during the review period and spent €288 mln in four deals. The largest was the acquisition of the Finnish headquarters of media group Sanoma for €176 mln. Fellow German investor, Allianz Real Estate, shelled out €220 mln to acquire the Arc de Seine office building in Paris from Hamburg-based fund manager Union Investment.

An analysis of the top European real estate transactions in the first quarter of 2014 appears in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine.