Top 5 deals
Top 5 deals
1. Arcandor agrees massive property sale with Pirelli-RREEF syndicate
2. SEB acquires Potsdamer Platz portfolio
3. Doughty Hanson sells EUR 700m of property in three days
4. GE buys 50% stake in EUR 2.6 bn NPL portfolio
5. Kungsleden completes sell-off Orkla, DnB NOR
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1.
Arcandor agrees massive property sale with Pirelli-RREEF syndicate
Date published: 13 December 2007
Arcandor, the largest department store owner in Germany, has signed a letter of intent to sell its 49% stake in the EUR 4.7 bn Highstreet real estate company to a syndicate of Deutsche Bank's RREEF unit, Milan-based Pirelli Real Estate and the Italian family-run Borletti Group. Arcandor said earlier it expected to realise capital gains of EUR 800 mln from the sale.
Highstreet owns 164 properties with a total surface area of 3.1 million m2. Some 90% of the portfolio comprises Karstadt department stores, including the KeDeWe in Berlin, one of the largest department stores in Europe. The letter of intent stipulates an exclusivity period until 1 February next year to finalise the acquisition agreement.
Arcandor, which was formerly named Karstadt Quelle, sold the other 51% of the portfolio to Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Funds in 2006 for EUR 3.7 bn. The sale of the 49% to the Pirelli-RREEF group requires the approval of the Whitehall Funds.
'We are extremely satisfied with the basis upon which the real estate transaction will be consummated,' said Arcandor's CEO Thomas Middelhoff in a statement. 'It was the quality of our portfolio and the creditworthiness of the tenant Karstadt what made this agreement possible under the current difficult market conditions. And we managed to achieve a valuation in line with our initial expectation and significantly higher than the current book value of the assets despite the financial market crisis.'
Arcandor and the RREEF-Pirelli syndicate also agreed to work together to create a European department store alliance. This would involve the acquisition by Karstadt of up to 25% of Pirelli's Italian department store chain La Rinascente and in Printemps in France. In return, the consortium will take up to 25% in Karstadt's premium segment. Each of the partners will appoint a representative to the supervisory boards of Karstadt and La Rinascente/Printemps.
'The premium segment still has great growth potential both throughout Europe and beyond,' commented Peter Wolf, chairman of Karstadt Warenhaus. 'Together with our partners, we will rapidly expand the Premium Group further ultimately setting a clear market leadership in Europe's luxury segment.'
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2.
SEB acquires Potsdamer Platz portfolio
Date published: 17 December 2007
SEB Asset Management has acquired the Quartier Potsdamer Platz portfolio in Central Berlin from German car maker Daimler. The portfolio comprises 19 properties with a total space of about 285,000 m2. About 42% of the assets is office and administrative space while 22% is for retail use. The remaining space consists of residential and hotel accommodation along with leisure facilities.
Although the parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price, market sources suggest a transaction volume of some EUR 1.5 bn. This would mean a major loss for Daimler which bought the land in 1990 from the German senate and invested about EUR 2 bn since then to build one of Europe's largest developments. The complex, designed by an international team of architects led by Renzo Piano, eventually opened its doors in 1998.
The car producer said that the major disposal is in line with its strategy to concentrate on its car-making business.
The portfolio also comprises the neighbouring Gleisdreieck car park providing a total of 3,877 parking spaces. The portfolio's occupancy rate is almost 95%. The average lease term of the overall portfolio is 6.1 years. SEB said that part of the assets contain properties offering attractive appreciation potential offering over a medium-term investment horizon.
The acquisition comes follows the sale by SEB of 26 properties in Germany this year . 'Berlin is experiencing rising rents and growing investor confidence, which in turn will strengthen the market for real estate investments in the coming years', the Swedish banking group's real estate fund management unit said.
The deal demonstrates that equity-rich investors are profiting from the current shortage of liquidity on the market and that transactions on this scale can be successfully completed - with much less competition, it added. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2008.
Since the beginning of the year, SEB Asset Management has entered into transactions totalling globally over EUR 4 bn for its four real estate funds.
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3.
Doughty Hanson sells EUR 700m of property in three days
Date published: 12 December 2007
Doughty Hanson has announced it is selling the Maciachini Center office development in Milan, bringing the UK property fund manager's total sales volume to almost EUR 700 mln in just three days.
In a statement on Wednesday, Doughty Hanson said the Maciachini Center was acquired by Luxembourg-based investment vehicle Milareal and Italian developer Via Imbonati for EUR 380 mln.
Located in the heart of Milan's northern growth axis, the prime development site was bought by Doughty Hanson four years ago. Since then Maciachini has been under development in a phased programme involving speculatively constructed and build-to-suit buildings under the firm's Real Estate Solutions programme. When completed, Maciachini Center will comprise 95,000 m2 of new buildings for offices, retail shops, bars, restaurants and cafes, a fitness centre and secured parking for 1,300 cars.
Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate has been active in Italy since 1999, and many of the fund's investments have involved real estate solutions for corporate clients. Maciachini was an investment from Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate's first fund.
On Monday, Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate said it had agreed to sell its office portfolio in the Kista district of Stockholm to a property fund managed by Norway's DnB NOR Bank for SEK 2.9 bn (about EUR 315 mln). The sale was the first divestment carried out by the Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate II fund.
Doughty Hanson acquired the portfolio of three high-quality office properties in June 2006. The portfolio comprises approximately 120,000 m2 and is let to more than 50 tenants, including the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Ericsson, Tele2, Fujitsu and Baxter Medical.
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4.
GE buys 50% stake in EUR 2.6 bn NPL portfolio
Date published: 17 December 2007
GE has teamed up with Pirelli RE/Calyon to acquire a portfolio of non performing loans (NPL) originated by Banca Antonveneta and its subsidiary Interbanca, worth some EUR 2.6 bn at gross book value. GE is buying a 50% stake in the portfolio, while Pirelli RE is coinvesting with a 16.5% interest through its joint venture with Calyon (67%- Pirelli RE 33%). The total acquisition price of the portfolio amounts to EUR 530 mln, which will be financed for about 65% with senior debt granted by Royal Bank of Scotland and Calyon and for 35% with mezzanine debt (subscribed by the buyers) and equity.
The portfolio comprises over 20,000 loans covering a wide range of mixed commercial, corporate and real estate assets across Italy. Pirelli Real Estate will service the portfolio and act as asset manager. The operation is the second tranche in the transaction concluded with ABN Amro in end-2006 regarding a portfolio of mortgage and corporate loans worth some EUR 1 bn at gross book value.
The transaction represents GE's third acquisition of a non-performing loan portfolio in Italy over the last 18 months. The company has now a total exposure of over EUR 5 bn of gross book value in loans.
The deal raises the gross book value of non performing loans managed by Pirelli RE to EUR 12 bn (about EUR 2.7 bn at net book value). The company announced it intends to open another three offices alongside its existing seven offices as it expects this area of business to grow in 2008. The company intends to strengthen its business in the north-east of Italy as well as focus on countries in Central and Eastern Europe - particularly Germany and Poland - where it intends to develop platforms for managing Non Performing Loan portfolios.
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5.
Kungsleden completes sell-off Orkla, DnB NOR, upgrades forecast
Date published: 13 December 2007
Swedish property company Kungsleden has completed the sale of 82 Swedish commercial properties to Norwegian asset manager Orkla Finans Kapitalförvaltning and Norwegian investment bank DnB NOR Markets. The company also upgraded its full-year 2007 profit forecast to SEK 1.8 bn (EUR 191 mln) from SEK 1.4 bn (EUR 148 mln).
Kungsleden originally announced the deal on 24 October, when it valued the assets at SEK 5 bn (EUR 530 mln). In Thursday's press release, the Swedish firm said the sale price was now SEK 4,750 mln, still SEK 375 mln above book value and SEK 710 m above acquisition value. This latter amount will be posted to its profit for calculating dividends for 2007, Kungsleden said.
The properties, comprising office, industrial and warehouse premises, have lettable floor-space of just over 751,000 m2, with a rental value of just over SEK 473 mln. The ownership of the properties will be transferred no later than 15 January 2008.
'I am delighted to be able to complete this deal with Orkla with very satisfactory profits. I still see attractive opportunities for high transaction levels in commercial properties, and expansion in care, school and retirement home properties,' Kungsleden's CEO Thomas Erséus said in a statement.