Read on to discover who bought and sold the most European real estate by value in 2019.
It may come as no surprise to readers to have it confirmed that The Blackstone Group has topped PropertyEU’s Top 100 Investors - Deals & Dealmakers Ranking again.
The firm bought and sold a total of €26 bn of real estate in 2019, making it the Number One dealmaker in Europe. Celebrated transactions during 2019 included taking over Canada’s Dream Global REIT for $6.2 bn (€4.2 bn), which owned assets in Germany (pictured), the Netherlands, and Austria.
Below Blackstone, there has been significant movement. Patrizia leapt into 2nd spot after being placed 6th the previous year.
During 2019, deal volume by the German public property giant leapt 20% to €9 bn. Almost two-thirds of the volume comprised fresh investments, mainly sourced from outside Germany. The Nordics, France and Italy were particularly hot markets for Patrizia, while it was also active in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Portugal. Of the €5.5 bn it acquired, most was commercial property while €1.5 bn was residential.
Meanwhile, Commerz Real - also of Germany - moved up to 3rd spot from 38th position the previous year. Commerz Real was propelled by the purchase of the Millennium portfolio for €2.5 bn – Germany’s largest ever portfolio deal. The asset management arm of Commerzbank Group acquired the 49-strong portfolio for its open-ended Hausinvest fund. Indeed, the majority of the company’s fresh acquisitions were for this vehicle. CEO Andreas Muschter, who has recently left the company, said earlier this year that the company’s acquisition success in 2019 was down to its speed and certainty to perform.
Elsewhere there were big jumps for LaSalle Investment Management and Nuveen Real Estate, both of whom broke into the top 10.
The top 10 is as follows:
1. The Blackstone Group (€26 bn)
2. Patrizia (€9 bn)
3. Commerz Real (€8.9 bn)
4. Swiss Life AM (€8.5 bn)
5. AXA IMRA - Real Assets (€8 bn)
6. LaSalle Investment Management (€7.1 bn)
7. Nuveen Real Estate (€6.6 bn)
8. Vonovia SE (€6.6 bn)
9. Allianz Real Estate (€6.4 bn)
10. AEW Global (€5.9 bn)
La Francais Global REIM has notably made it into the top 20, as has Henderson Park, which was only established as a company in 2016.
Some of the companies in the Top 100 are present because they sold all their property via takeovers. Canada’s Dream Global REIT, Hembla of Sweden, Technopolis Oyi of Finland, and Testa Residential of Spain are examples. Blackstone completed the takeovers of both Dream Global REIT and Testa during the year.
As a group, members of the Top 100 traded €300 bn of European assets during 2019. The mean average for a firm in the Top 100 was €3.2 bn of trades and the median average was €2.6 bn. The mean average for acquisitions was €1.7 bn and €1.3 bn for disposals.
There are plenty of household names that did not make it onto the latest ranking, being just under the threshold of €1.37 bn. Very closely grouped together below the cut with deal volume between €1 bn and €1.35 bn were ECE, DeA Capital Real Estate, Warburg-HIH Invest, Goodman, Europa Capital, Angelo Gordon, Norges Bank, Aedifica, Gecina, Orion Capital Managers, Grand City Properties, TwentyTwo Real Estate, Queensgate Investments, and ASR Real Estate.
There are two listed property companies within the top 10 – Patrizia and Vonovia, both of whom are German. The ranking as a whole is dominated by listed asset managers, private firms and captive real estate divisions of pension funds or insurance companies. In total, 23 listed prop cos made it into the Top 100, accounting for just less than a quarter.
As one might expect, groups headquartered in the US, Germany, France and the UK executed the most deal volume. Firms based in the US were responsible for a grand total of €91 bn of deals in Europe. Appearing in the top 100 are 23 firms headquartered in the US. The next largest grouping by domicile is Germany (17), the UK (15), France (11), Canada (6), and Korea (5).
Korean dealmakers were led by Hana Financial Group, Mirae Asset Global Investments, Samsung Life, NPS, and Hanwha Investment & Securities.
After Korea, the next largest contingent is from Sweden (4), Switzerland (3), Italy (3), Spain (3), Finland (2), the Netherlands (2), and Austria (2).
The data shows the Top 100 bought a total of €170 bn and sold €130 bn during 2019.
PropertyEU Editor-in-Chief, Robin Marriott, said: ‘Throughout 2019, conditions remained positive for investors. At the same time, they were cautious of anything that might develop into a black swan event.’
In an analysis accompanying the Top 100, Real Capital Analytics (RCA) writes that logistics ruled in 2019 while cracks in retail property opened up.
Subscribers can view the entire ranking, commentary and RCA Analysis here.
METHODOLOGY
This edition of PropertyEU’s Top 100 Investors Deals & Dealmakers ranks companies according to how much real estate by euro value they bought and sold during the calendar year 2019. The ranking is based on data sheet surveys sent to hundreds of companies in April 2020 and is therefore backward looking. In the event of companies not completing the survey, PropertyEU used a combination of desk research and data supplied by Real Capital Analytics (RCA). We endeavoured to check figures with companies thereafter. In the event of doubt over any significant number supplied by companies we endeavoured to make checks. For instances of takeovers of public property companies involving a gradual bookbuild, we treated completion of the requisite takeover as the year of the transaction.
The ranking is largely based on the total value (in €mln) of real estate acquisitions and disposals. Where respondents reported figures in non-euro currencies, the euro conversion as at 31 December 2019 was used. The groundwork was completed by a team of five at PropertyEU and co-ordinated by Gordon Darroch. PropertyEU’s Top 100 Investors - Deals & Dealmakers has in the past been published as a standalone publication. It is not to be confused with PropertyEU’s Top 100 Investors AUM, which is to be published in October 2020. If your company has not yet taken part, please contact us at research@propertyeu.info.
