News from 05/30/2008
Siemens Real Estate: Commercial property package sold to Dawnay, Day
Siemens Real Estate (SRE) has sold a property portfolio to the Dawnay, Day Sirius Group for €98mn. Dawnay, Day is quoting the net initial return at 8.2%. The total usable area of the Munich, Nuremberg, Offenbach, Hannover and Berlin commercial properties is approximately 200,000 sqm. Siemens, as a tenant, will continue to occupy nearly half of the area sold under leases of two- to ten-years. Existing leases to 30 other tenants were transferred to Sirius. Some 19,840 sqm in the sold properties are vacant and could thus be refurbished immediately, it was stated. In addition, Dawnay, Day announced that it plans some 24,154 sqm of new construction on the premises it has acquired. SRE manager Günter Willbold is expecting further sales of Siemens properties in Germany soon.
Jamestown: New funds investing in U.S. forests and Turkish properties
Jamestown US-Immobilien GmbH, Cologne, is expanding its activities to include U.S. forests and Turkish properties, founder and managing shareholder Christoph Kahl announced yesterday in Frankfurt. Before the end of the summer, the company will place on the market its “Timber 1” fund, which will invest directly in forests in the southeastern U.S.A. The first Turkish fund is scheduled to follow, probably during the fourth quarter, and will invest in shopping centers. “As for Turkey,” Kahl said, “we are planning to put together, in the next few years, an organization similarly effective to the one in the U.S.A.” Jamestown’s focus, however, will remain on the U.S. property funds.
Orco Germany: Turnover drop despite rising rental income
In the first quarter of 2008, the turnover of Orco Germany S.A. sank by 11.6%, from €17.4mn to €15.4mn compared to the same period in the previous year. Rental income, on the other hand, rose from €1mn to €13.7mn. Today, the portfolio comprises a total of 925,000 sqm of lettable area, compared to 62,977 sqm in March, 2007. The turnover from apartment sales ran to a total of €1.9mn. The operative result (adjusted EBITDA) was €4.82mn, compared to €0.66mn in the first quarter of 2007.
HSH Nordbank: Financing of €65mn for Dutch portfolio
HSH Nordbank AG is providing a €65mn loan toward the financing of a Dutch property portfolio held by Delta Lloyd Dutch Property Fund C. V. in Amsterdam. This is a Delta Lloyd Group property fund issued for institutional and other investors in the form of a non-listed Dutch REIT. The current portfolio consists of eight office buildings and four retail properties in Dutch cities. The total market value of the portfolio to be acquired is said to be just short of €160mn, which would translate into an initial loan-to-value ratio of slightly over 40%. HSH claims it has established itself as the biggest foreign real estate underwriter in the Netherlands. It reported that in 2007, as in 2006, it concluded new business in excess of €1bn, involving nearly 40 transactions in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Berlin: Meermann-Chamartin plans €50mn project in Mitte
The German-Spanish property group Meermann-Chamartin wants a June construction start for its “Pergamon-Palais” project in the Mitte district of Berlin. On the prominently located plot at the corner of Am Kupfergraben and Georgenstrasse across from the Museumsinsel, five six-story buildings for offices, stores and apartments are to be built. The ground floor of each is set aside for retail and gastronomy uses and the upper three floors are reserved for apartments. The investment volume amounts to approximately €50mn. The project's design was drafted by the Berlin architectural and engineering office Elisabeth Rüthnik which won an architectural contest against six competitors. Liegenschaftsfonds Berlin is providing the land. Completion is slated for the late autumn of 2009.
GE Real Estate: Entry into hotel fund with €1bn target volume
GE Real Estate Europe (GE Real Estate), together with French partners, wants to develop a pan-European hotel fund. GE Real Estate reported that it joined forces with BNP Paribas Assurance as a founding shareholder of the Capital France Hotel fund (CFH). This fund, administered by Algonquin Asset Management France (AAMF), is to expand throughout Europe and increase the asset value it manages to €1bn by the end of 2010 through investments in Eurozone, Scandinavian and Central and Eastern European hotels. At present, the fund comprises nine three- and four-star hotels in France operated under Rezidor brands Radisson and Park Inn. Three further hotel objects, also located in France, are being brought into the fund by GE Real Estate in exchange for CFH shares and cash. The entire portfolio (twelve objects) is appraised by GE Real Estate at approximately €275mn.
Potsdam: Züblin Development accepted for PPP project
A consortium led by Züblin Development GmbH has been awarded the contract for the new Brandenburg Ministry of Finance building. This constitutes the first time the State of Brandenburg has used a public-private partnership (PPP) for the construction of a new building. Construction costs will be around €15mn and the total investment volume including 30 years of operation will run to approximately €42mn. The new Ministry of Finance is to have 214 rooms on five floors, including 187 offices and five consultation rooms, as well as 285 parking spaces. Completion is slated for February, 2010. The consortium also comprises the Brandenburg branch of Ed. Züblin AG, Niersberger Gebäudemanagement GmbH & Co. KG and Facility Management Nord GmbH. The design was drawn by the architects Gössler and Kreienbaum, based in Hamburg and Berlin.