CBRE Global Investors has emerged as the biggest investor in European real estate in 2014 outside the trio of US loan portfolio buyers which include Cerberus, Lone Star and Blackstone.
CBRE Global Investors has emerged as the biggest investor in European real estate in 2014 outside the trio of US loan portfolio buyers which include Cerberus, Lone Star and Blackstone.
The Amsterdam-based company, a subsidiary of the world’s leading agent CBRE, forked out €8.2 bn on direct real estate assets last year, almost €1 bn more than its nearest rival Paris-based AXA Real Estate. ‘We were very active on both the buy and sell side last year, and our investment volume in terms of disposal and acquisition was approximately equal. But we will be much more of a buyer than a seller in 2015,’ the company’s EMEA chief Pieter Hendrikse told PropertyEU.
Hendrikse said the investment manager would continue buying on behalf of its Dutch office, European retail, core and Iberian strategies. ‘We also manage some interesting separate accounts on behalf of investors from all around the globe. Altogether we have a number of very concrete strategies and significant investment power.’
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CBRE Global Investors announced in late February that it is extending the life of its Retail Property Fund Iberica (RPFI) for a further five years in a move aimed at benefiting from Spain’s ongoing property bonanza. The original fund duration was 10 years from 2000, with a two-year extension until April 2012 followed by a number of short-term extensions and a three-year disposal plan approved in December 2013.
Fund manager Jose Borregon commented: ‘The five-year extension has given us the luxury of time to be able to enhance the value of the assets and work on giving our investors the best return on their investment.’ RPFI is invested in shopping centres in Spain and Portugal with a total gross value of around €1.1 bn at end-2014.
CBRE Global Investors constitutes the fourth US player in the top 5 biggest dealmakers in Europe in 2014. While a trio of heavyweight US private equity giants dominate the top 3 following a splurge on loan portfolios, CBRE Global Investors won the fourth spot through a more traditional mix of real estate sales and acquisitions. CBRE Global Investors is gearing up to continue its spending spree in Europe in 2015 after completing roughly €8 bn of investment transactions last year, Hendrikse told PropertyEU.
Investment volume in terms of sales and purchases was approximately equal last year, but the company will be much more of a buyer than a seller in 2015, Hendrikse said.
But although Paris-based AXA Real Estate slipped this year in the rankings, it lifted its investment volume year-on-year by no less than 16%. Other European insurance companies with a position in the top 10 were UK peer Legal & General Property and German insurance giant Allianz Real Estate while London-based Standard Life Investments lagged slightly at number 15.
Augsburg-based Patrizia Immobilien headed the ranking of Europe’s listed real estate delegation at number 10 with another listed heavyweight Land Securities coming in at number 10 and German residential rival Deutsche Annington at number 19. Paris-listed Unibail-Rodamco just scraped into the top 20 after a series of disposals of smaller malls.
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Check out the ranking and details of individual investors via our Top Investors app which is available free of charge during MIPIM 2015. Afterwards it will be for subscribers only.
