TOP DEALS: Kuwait flexes oil power in London

Kuwait has pulled off the largest investment deal by volume so far in 2013 with the acquisition of an office estate in central London.

St Martins Property Group, a UK-based arm of Kuwait's oil-fuelled sovereign wealth fund, is reportedly paying £1.7 bn, or just over €2 bn, for the five-hectare More London estate. The 280,000 scheme is divided between City Hall, occupied by the Greater London Authority and another 10 buildings.

According to PropertyEU Research this is the largest European real estate transaction carried out by a single investor from 1 January to 10 December 2013. St Martins is partial to large UK office schemes. Its More London deal followed on from the acquisition in January of the 14-storey building located at 5 Canada Square in London's Canary Wharf business district for about €450 mln.

So far in 2013, the More London purchase has been trumped in size terms only by a German deal which involved listed property company Patrizia Immobilien leading a group of 27 institutional investors to take control of the 32,000-unit GBW residential portfolio in Germany for €2.4 bn.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing carried out two of the largest institutional fund transactions. Backed by a host of sovereign wealth funds and large institutional players, MSREI pulled off the third of four €1 bn-plus transactions recorded by PropertyEU Research during the year. This involved the acquisition of the 205,000 m2 Metropolis shopping and entertainment centre in Moscow in a deal valued at about €1 bn. Subsequently, MSREI sold a 50% stake in the asset to a fund established by Hines and US pension fund asset manager Calpers for €463 mln.

Moscow was also the location for two major office transactions. In March, Russian investor 01 Properties completed the acquisition of the White Square office scheme for about €774 mln. Seven months later Millhouse, an investment vehicle mainly owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, purchased the neighbouring White Gardens scheme for just under €600 mln.

Both White Square and White Gardens were sold by the development consortium led by Russian investment bank VTB Capital. The other members are TPG Holdings and China Investment Corporation, international developer AIG/Lincoln, and Coalco Development.

PropertyEU will publish a comprehensive list and analysis of the 2013 top deals and dealmakers early next year.