An investment company founded by a former RREEF executive has taken control of a 243-asset portfolio in the largest real estate transaction in Greek history.
An investment company founded by a former RREEF executive has taken control of a 243-asset portfolio in the largest real estate transaction in Greek history.
Invel Real Estate Partners, established and led by Chris Papachristophorou, signed an agreement on 25 November to acquire a 66% stake in NBG Pangaea Real Estate Investment Company from the country’s oldest lender, the National Bank of Greece (NBG).
The investment volume for the majority stake in Pangaea comes to €653 mln, making this the largest real estate transaction ever signed in Greece.
Pangaea is Greece's largest REIC, the country's equivalent of a tax-transparent real estate investment trust or REIT. It owns a portfolio of 243 commercial properties comprising a gross leasable area of 416,000 m2.
The portfolio encompasses nearly all of NBG's main office buildings and its bank branches, spread across various cities in Greece with concentrations in Greece's main regions of Attica and Thessaloniki. Pangaea expects to grow to include over €1 bn of real estate assets by the end of 2013, after completing awarded asset acquisitions and planned property contributions from both NBG and Invel.
The transaction has been approved by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund and the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission.
Invel's Papachristophorou said: 'Invel's material investment into the Greek real estate market demonstrates our confidence in the potential of this market and the recovery of the Greek economy overall.' The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Before establishing Invel, Papachristophorou was managing director of Deutsche Bank and global head of RREEF Opportunistic Investments. RREEF is now known as Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management.
Invel said it is seeking to capitalise on real estate investment opportunities throughout major European markets that involve corporate and government restructuring, complex capital structures, and/or asset redevelopment and repositioning.
Its investment team has combined transaction experience in excess of €20 bn of real estate gross asset value. The company's investors include hedge funds, real estate funds, high-net-worth individuals and family offices.
