News from 02/08/2008
Euro Ejendomme: Planned purchases in Germany of €200mn–€300mn
The German-Danish firm Euro Ejendomme AG wants to invest €200mn to €300mn in Germany in 2008. The announced preferred asset classes are high-quality hotels, care facilities and office properties having long-term leases to, at most, three first-class tenants. The firmstated that, having followed a “selective” strategy during the past year, it intends “to go on the offensive” in 2008. Six nursing homes and two hotels, among other projects, are currently under exclusive examination.
Vivacon: Take over of property manager Curanis Holding
Cologne-based Vivacon AG has acquired 80% of the shares in the property manager Curanis Holding GmbH. Curanis Holding, seated in Münster and focusing on the residential segment, manages 53,000 residential and commercial units with a market value of approximately €4bn. With the announcement of this deal, speculation about a take-over of Vivacon vanished into thin air: a press conference announced for Friday stimulated stock brokers’ fantasies and unleashed a jump of up to 8% in the firm’s share quotations. After the residential investment concern put a stop to the rumors with an announcement to the press on Thursday afternoon, the company’s share value
fell back to a loss.
MIB: Retail project taken over near Frankfurt
MIB AG Immobilien und Beteiligungen (Properties and Participations) has taken over the specialized market project “Chinon Center” in Hofheim am Taunus near Frankfurt. Having already presented a new design concept for the
project to Gagfah, the previous investor, MIB has now acquired the premises at Chinonplatz 6-12 in the center of Hofheim from Gagfah and the Scholz-Gruppe (Scholz Group). The current plan provides for two buildings with a total letting area of approximately 12,000 sqm and 400 parking spaces. The entire investment volume is quoted by
MIB at around €30mn. MIB intends to commence construction of the
“Chinon Center” at the beginning of 2009 and open it in the autumn of 2010.
Lone Star: Ten German hotels sold to CBRE fund
The U.S. investment concern Lone Star sold ten German hotels at the end of 2007 to the French Dynamique Hôtels SAS, a fund inititated by CB Richard Ellis. The objects are located in Bremen, Mannheim, Dortmund and Neu-Isenburg, among other places. It was agreed that no comment
would be made concerning the purchase price. The sale took place in the manner of a share deal and comprised, apart from the hotel premises, the management companies and hotel operations as well as their employees. Lone Star was advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hudson Advisors Germany GmbH.
TMW Pramerica: World fund acquires objects in France, Finland and Poland
TMW Immobilien Weltfonds (Property World Fund) announced purchases in three European countries. For the reopening of the fund for its investors on February 6, Pramerica Real Estate Investors expanded the fund’s inventory by one project development each in Paris
and Helsinki as well as a logistics portfolio in Poland. The
development in southeastern Paris includes two office
buildings with a total of 12,000 usable sqm and 342 parking
spaces; the construction project in Helsinki comprises 10,000 usable sqm and 187 parking spaces, and the logistics portfolio in Poland consists of two objects located next to expressways near Warsaw and Poznan. Portfolio manager Sebastian Lohmer said, “These purchases mark our entrance into the markets in Finland and Poland and enlarge our
inventory in Paris.” For the coming weeks, Lohmer also announced further investments in South America as well as additional purchases in Europe.
Berlin: Competition starts for Heidestrasse area near rail station
The planning competition for the Heidestrasse area at the new Berlin central station has begun. The owners of the grounds, Vivico and Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), the State of Berlin and the district of Mitte (Center) presented five firms that by the end of the year are to develop master plans for one of the biggest construction projects in the center of the capital: Albert Speer (Frankfurt), Hilmer Sattler and Albrecht (Munich/Berlin), Markus Neppl (Cologne), Rudolf Scheuvens and Kai Stege (both in Dortmund). According to the guidelines for the master plan, up to 610,000 sqm of gross floor area are to be developed, including up to 1,200 apartments. The former Bahn subsidiary Vivico, which was recently taken over by the Austrian CA
Immo, is to bear the cost of the competition.
Investment market: Savills expects drop in volume
On the German investment market in 2007, a transaction volume of some €63.4bn was reached – a 27% climb compared with the previous year. According to a current Savills report, office objects were in highest demand, with an approximately 50% share (€31.6bn). Mixed use and retail properties won second and third place with 22.7% (€14.4bn) and 13.9% (€8.8bn). Savills stated that during the first half of the year, foreign financial investors with high-risk strategies and low equity capital were controlling market activities, resulting in a continuous increase in prices and a negative effect on initial return in top locations. For this reason, Savills indicated that some investors focused more on major German cities with 200,000 to 500,000
inhabitants in order to attain their targeted initial yields. When the financial crisis began in the summer of 2007, the activities of foreign financial investors receded. For 2008, Savills is expecting a drop in transaction volume to €45bn, “as
package sales in the billions, among other deals, will probably be an exception.”