Sovereign wealth funds were involved in sales of two giant malls, and investors snapped up UK hotels, a life science project and West End shops.
In the end, British Land's no longer core 50% stake in the giant Meadowhall shopping centre was bought by existing JV partner Norges Bank IM in a transaction valuing the 1.4 mln ft2 regional mall at £720 mln. A sale to anyone else would have been complicated by the £426 mln of encumbered debt against the asset.
Singapore SWF, GIC, also finally completed the sale of Roma Est, the 92,700 m2 retail centre with over 200 shops and restaurants in the Italian capital. It is buyer Klépierre's second major shopping centre transaction this year following its closing in January of the acquisition of O'Parinor in Paris.
Luxury retailing group Richemont, and two family offices bought shops in London's Bond Street and Oxford Street in two separate deals.
Italy's Statuto Group was active again, this time paying £180 mln for a west central London hotel at the Whiteley redevelopment, and Patrizia paid £25 mln for a 'repriced' Malmaison boutique hotel in the heart of Edinburgh.
Also picking up an opportunity in a prime city location was the UK Crown Estate, which paid £125 mln to invest with life sciences specialist Pioneer Group in another department store redevelopment, a former Debenhams in Oxford.
On the finance scene, CBRE Investment Management was able to raise debt for a flagship core fund at a margin of just 0.5% in the Danish bond market, to finance a local portfolio of prime rental residential assets. An all-in fixed interest rate (coupon) of 3.6% was achieved, consisting of a margin of 0.5% and a base rate of 3.1%.
CBRE IM's head of treasury and debt financing, Duco Mook, said: 'In the context of today's challenging credit market, this closing is an exceptional achievement, which will put the fund in a prime position to access new opportunities.'
We also track five assets put up for sale in Paris, Munich, Madrid, Dublin and Bristol, and two new vehicles raising capital.
