GLOBAL - LaSalle, Schroders, Brookfield, USAA Real Estate, Square Mile

LaSalle Investment Management has completed a deal to purchase and fund the construction of Watkin Jones's student bedroom development in London.

The investment manager will invest £32m (€38m) on behalf of an undisclosed institutional client in the property known as the Quadrant.

According to LaSalle, the purchase price reflects a net initial yield of 6.27%.
 
Construction has begun on site, and the scheme is due to be delivered at the start of the 2013-14 academic year.

In Scandinavia, Schroder Property has bought an office and a retail property in Sweden for a combined €36m.

The company, which made the acquisition through its €185m Nordic Property Fund, praised the positive outlook on office units, saying it expected steady growth in the asset class over the coming years. 

The first of the two developments, Point Hyllie in Malmö, is not far from the Øresund Bridge connecting the city to Copenhagen and has been completely let to a dozen standing tenants since completion two years ago.

The development, bought for €20m, forms part of a larger project covering 200 hectares and resulted in an initial yield of 5.8%.

The second acquisition, a retail park in Arninge, outside Stockholm, was bought for €16m, with a local electronic retailer as secured as a standing client.

Schroders expected the commuter belt town to profit from Stockholm's economic growth over the next few years.

Moving to the US, Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund I, a private fund established by Brookfield Asset Management, has sold Convergence Office Center in Texas for $123m (€93.7m).

The deal included nine office/data centre buildings totalling 846,000 square feet, along with approximately 40 acres of development land.

The Brookfield fund retained approximately 12 acres of land for future retail development.

The fund acquired Convergence, which was 25% leased on acquisition, in November 2006 for $54m.

Finally, USAA Real Estate Company has made an undisclosed investment in the real estate company Square Mile Capital Management.

Jeffrey Citrin and Craig Solomon, who launched Square Mile in 2006, will retain a majority interest in the company and continue to oversee day-to-day operations.

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