International financing and investment firm WP Carey announced plans on Tuesday to open a second European office in Amsterdam to establish a European base for the management of its growing European property portfolio. The existing London-based team will continue to focus on the investment side of the firm's European business. WP Carey has a global portfolio exceeding $10bn and assets under management in Europe of about $3bn. The firm said it has decided to open an office in Amsterdam in order to manage the increasing asset base generated by the volume of European investments.
International financing and investment firm WP Carey announced plans on Tuesday to open a second European office in Amsterdam to establish a European base for the management of its growing European property portfolio. The existing London-based team will continue to focus on the investment side of the firm's European business. WP Carey has a global portfolio exceeding $10bn and assets under management in Europe of about $3bn. The firm said it has decided to open an office in Amsterdam in order to manage the increasing asset base generated by the volume of European investments.
WP Carey specialises in long-term sale-leaseback financing for companies looking to grow their businesses, expand their facilities or pay down debt. In the current economic climate, this is proving an increasingly attractive source of financing for companies looking to raise and redeploy capital. The firm has grown significantly over the past three decades. Assets under management have tripled since 2001 and increased 15% from last year. In 2007, WP Carey completed $1.1bn worth of transactions.
'We are not just dipping our toes into Europe; we have invested there for 10 years,' said Gordon DuGan, CEO and president of WP Carey. 'Given the success we have enjoyed and the greater size of the sale-and-lease-back market outside the US, we are positioning ourselves to further our European expansion and manage our increasingly global portfolio.'
