#exporeal CBREGI on track to hit €7b of deals in Europe this year

CBRE Global Investors is on track to reach its €7 bn transactional target for Europe for the full year 2015, John Mulqueen, head of EMEA transactions at CBRE Global Investors, told PropertyEU in an interview at EXPO REAL.

'We are seeing a very significant increase in the deal pipeline - that is up 46% in Europe compared to the same period last year - and this is driving our investment volumes,' he said. 'I think pricing has got to a level where vendors feel comfortable to sell and they are no longer holding on to their assets.'

CBRE Global Investors announced the acquisition of Glacis-Galerie shopping centre in Bavaria for €145 mln on the opening day of Expo Real. Last week it bought another mall in Duesseldorf for an undisclosed amount. The company has also just signed two major acquisitions in France, Mulqueen added. 'We are buying a logistics portfolio off-market for just under €80 mln as well as a very prime high street unit in Paris for around €150 mln,' he noted.

CBREGI has also been active buying and selling in the UK, largely on behalf of smaller pension funds. Mulqueen: 'London is very fully priced at the moment but there are very good reasons - firstly the globalisation impact - why we think it is still a good market to invest in.'

Commenting on where appetite is mostly coming from, Mulqueen said US players are leading the pack in an attempt to take advantage of the US dollar currency appreciation versus the euro. 'US investors have seen very strong returns over the past few years but now their market is slowing down and they are turning to Europe to secure higher yields.'

Asian investors were predicted to move to mainland Europe after being active buyers in the UK for a few years, but some of them have been trying to repatriate capital to their home market instead, noted Mulqueen. 'This is mostly on account of instability in the Asian financial markets as well as due to currency depreciation versus the euro.'