GLOBAL - In Canada, the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) has selected a consortium led by Oxford Properties Group - the real estate branch of pension fund OMERS - to redevelop its downtown property south of the Lakeshore at Bay Street.

Oxford Properties and the TPA plan to develop "high-quality office and commercial opportunities", according to a statement released by OMERS.

The two parties will consult the public as part of the planning phase and aim to start construction in the next few years.

Oxford Properties and the TPA will work to formalise their business arrangement over the next few months, OMERS added.

Moving to the US, Clarion Partners has entered into a joint venture on behalf of an undisclosed institutional clients to develop Longwood Center, a life sciences and biotechnology building in Boston, Massachusetts.

The project, to be developed in partnership with National Development, Charles River Realty Investors and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, will be anchored by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which has leased approximately 154,000 square feet.

The facility will be located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, home to numerous medical, research and academic organisations.

In Latin America, Standard Life Investments has announced that its Select Property fund has sold the Alana II Building in São Paulo, Brazil, for £11.6m (€14m).

The multi-let office property has been purchased by a Brazilian wealth management family.

The Select Property fund has achieved a sterling capital profit on investment of +41.4% over the two and a half years it has held the building, Standard Life said.

Still in Brazil, Equity International has acquired an equity interest in Grupo Thá, a regional homebuilder based in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
The company's primary business is homebuilding, which is focused on the development of middle and upper-middle income residential projects in the Paraná and Santa Catarina states, with operations in Curitiba, Camboriú/Itajaí and Joinville.

Grupo Thá has two additional operating units: a national construction services platform that builds residential and commercial properties across Brazil, primarily for third parties, and a residential real estate brokerage that provides marketing and sales services for the company and third parties.

Moving to the UK, RREEF Real Estate, the real estate investment management business of Deutsche Bank's asset management division, has acquired Park House, Finsbury Square, in London on behalf of one of its German open-ended funds, grundbesitz europa.

The real estate investment company acquired the property from PRUPIM for  £150.2m.

Meanwhile, in Germany, EPISO LP, a value-added/opportunistic fund, has acquired the office complex 'Forum am Brühl' in Leipzig from RREEF.

The property was acquired through the fund's Luxembourg entity together with partner caleus capital investors, based in Berlin.

The complex, which was built in 1997, is located within Leipzig's historic centre on the old town ring in front of the main railway station.

Still in Germany, Eindhoven Holiday Inn Hotel, located on the Veldmaarschalk Montgomerylaan 1, Eindhoven, has been sold to Invesco Real Estate for €22.5m.

The deal is a sale and leaseback, whereby the vendor, Hampshire Hospitality, has entered into a 25-year lease agreement with Invesco Real Estate. 

In Frankfurt, Madison International Realty, together with its German subsidiary Madison Real Estate, has signed a purchase agreement for Morgan Stanley P2 Value's interest in the Frankfurt Trianon complex.
 
Prior to the current transaction, the Trianon complex was owned by Morgan Stanley Eurozone Office Fund (MSEOF), an institutional real estate fund, and Morgan Stanley P2 Value.

Finally, Benson Elliot Capital Management has exchanged contracts with a number of subsidiaries of Speymill Deutsche Immobilien Company to acquire the TOR residential portfolio on behalf of Benson Elliot Real Estate Partners III.

The transaction involves the acquisition out of receivership of more than 3,000 residential units and ancillary commercial units, in 80 properties in Germany.

Debt funding has been secured from Landesbank Berlin.
 
Trish Barrigan, Benson Elliot senior partner, said: "The TOR portfolio may be one of the first defaulted CMBS portfolio loans to be resolved - it certainly won't be the last.

"These are complex transactions, requiring a breadth of property, financial structuring, tax and other skills."

Topics