The European hotel sector continued to move from an “alternative” asset class to a mainstream sector, with the IPD sample now reaching a total capital value of €10.2bn as of December 2011. Graham Craggs, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, points out that, “Hotels have continued to see strengthening capital flows from institutional investors attracted to long term income profiles. However, underlying asset quality and supportability of rent remains a priority”.

Returns in 2011 were 6.0 per cent, and although slightly lower than the 6.6 per cent delivered by European commercial property, hotels still benefited from positive capital growth (0.3 per cent), in an otherwise uncertain market, according to the IPD Pan-European Hotel Performance Report.

Of the 11 countries measured, the UK saw the strongest performance in 2011, delivering a 10. 4 per cent local currency return, whilst Italy was the worst performing country, returning -4.9 per cent. The Italian market suffered considerably from heavy capital declines, -10.3 per cent, whilst in the UK values continued to grow, at 3.7 per cent.

Greg Mansell, IPD, explained; “Hotel performance across Europe is driven by a number of factors, thus, despite the lower GDP growth of the UK in comparison to some of its neighbours, other factors specific to the UK market, notably competition amongst investors for fixed leases and the strength of London, boosted returns.”

France and Germany, the two largest markets aside from the UK, returned 9.3 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.

Gael Le Lay, AXA Real Estate, explained:
"The French market is well balanced between fixed leases, variable leases with minimum guarantees and full variable leases, whilst the German market is mainly fixed rent. France delivered the strongest 10 year returns off the back of this – especially due to the strong income returns delivered as a result.”

Marc Socker, Invesco Real Estate, commented:
“The hotel sector has proven to deliver strong long-term returns with lower volatility when compared against other commercial real estate, which is extremely attractive to investors in the current market environment.”

The headline results were:
• All hotels across Europe delivered a 10 year return of 7.4 per cent, against commercial property’s 6.0 per cent. On a five year basis, hotels returned 5.1 per cent and commercial property 3.5 per cent, highlighting the strength of the sector as a long term asset class.
• The highest 10 year return of any European country was in France, at 11.0 per cent.
• The strongest five year returns were in Finland, at 9.1 per cent.
• The highest income returns were also delivered in France and Finland, 6.9 per cent for both over 10 years. France also delivered the highest income return in 2011, at 7.0 per cent, hinting at the sustainability of the variable lease.

Tim Smith, HVS, concluded that “The hotel sector is poised to benefit greatly from increasing visitors to Europe over the next 10 years and is a sector that reacts quickly to improving GDP. The IPD report provides further evidence of the true risk reward profile and should encourage existing and first time investors to consider the sector.”

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Union Investment has acquired the Europa-Galerie shopping centre in Saarbrücken for its institutional real estate fund UniInstitutional European Real Estate. The vendor is Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, which is disposing of the property in the process of liquidating the CS Euroreal fund.

„The centre is an excellent fit with our existing shopping centre portfolio and adds diversification in this segment. ECE is a strong partner with whom we have a proven relationship, helping to safeguard the cash flow for our funds,“ says Dr. Christoph Schumacher, member of the management board of Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH. Union Investment was advised on the transaction by law firm Latham & Watkins.

The Europa-Galerie is located directly next to the main station, marking the start of the pedestrian zone, and has excellent transport links by car, rail and bus. The complex was constructed in 1991 and re-opened in 2010 following refurbishment, offering 25,000 sq m of retail space. The fully-let shopping centre, which boasts attractive and modern architecture, has around 1,050 parking spaces and an attractive retail mix of major anchor tenants, including Saturn, REWE and H&M. The Europa-Galerie's catchment area covers the entire city centre of Saarbrücken and stretches across large parts of the Saarland region and into neighbouring France, encompassing a total of 1.3 million people.

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Panattoni Europe has commenced operations on a new 30,000 m² warehouse facility for Lear Corporation. Lear Corporation, a global supplier of automotive seating and electrical power management systems, has over 100,000 employees around the world and 17 facilities in Germany. The project is being developed as part of the joint venture between Panattoni and Pramerica Real Estate Investors.

The new facility will be 100% leased by Lear and will be situated in Bremen’s Hansalinie Business Park. The park is located immediately adjacent to the A1 motorway, connecting Hamburg, Bremen and Germany’s core industrial region. Construction works for the facility commenced in June 2012 and the project is scheduled for completion prior to the end of the year.

The facility will serve as a relocation of Lear’s existing operation in Bremen, from which it has served several large clients in the automotive sector for nearly 20 years. The new, state-of-the-art facility will allow Lear to optimize its processes and accommodate larger product volumes as demand for its products and services continues to grow.

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The real estate company Elystan Capital Partners GmbH is on shopping tour and has purchased the “Campus West” on the Landsberger Straße in the west of Munich. The office ensemble in Pasing, built in the early 90´s, has over 36.000 m² office and retail space. The purchase was financed with capital from the US-private equity company GI Partners and a credit from the HSH Nordbank. Vendor of the ten buildings, Landsberger Straße 392-410, is the Luxemburger fund Campus West S.a.r.l. The“Campus West “ in Pasing is currently 70% leased. Further details of the agreed transaction were undisclosed.

Managing director of the Elystan Capital Partners, Keith Fischer, announced that the company plans to double its portfolio within the next 18 months. The purchase of the Campus West is the fourth acquisition and increases the office assets to 70.000 m².

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Philip Bähr (39) has been appointed Leasing Manager for Germany at Neinver. In his new role, Bähr is responsible for the leasing development and retail projects in Germany and will focus on acquiring new brand partners and managing brand relationships.

Bähr comes to Neinver from Douglas Immobilien GmbH, a subsidiary of Douglas Holding, where he served as property manager for Western Europe and Turkey. Previous jobs included expanding the New Yorker fashion company in Italy, and overseeing expansion management for Dolzer Maßkonfektionäre. Bähr holds a Master of Business Administration from LMU University in Munich and is fluent in English, Italian and Spanish.

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The Die Developer Projektentwicklung GmbH has sold as part of a share deal the completed and fully rented real estate “doubleU” situated in the northern part of the city of Dusseldorf on the international investor Dundee Shelf S.a.r.L. The purchase price agreed was undisclosed by both parties.

The project developer realised the seven story office building with a total floor space of 14.200 m² in a joint venture with Rheinmetall Immobilien GmbH. Half of the building is rented on the media company Group M while the other is shared by multiple clothing retailers. As well as the rentable areas “doubleU” has a two story underground garage that can be used by both vendors and customers.

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Youniq AG has acquired its first “student housing” project in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. A total of 292 student apartments are to be built in Düsseldorf’s Witzelstraße from the start of 2013. The investment volume stands at around €26 million. Provided the construction work begins and progresses to schedule, the company anticipates that the project will be completed in time for the start of the 2014 summer semester. The new project takes the number of Youniq apartments under management or construction to a total of 3,770 units.

The federal state capital Düsseldorf, the second-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia in terms of population, enjoys an excellent reputation as a university location with a high standard of living and quality of life. The University of Düsseldorf performed outstandingly well in the highly regarded CHE university rankings last conducted in November 2011, including in the disciplines of business administration and law. The university obtained top marks for admission requirements in particular. Around 17,000 students are currently studying on the campus of the local university. The city centre and campus are around a kilometre away from the site as the crow flies and the university hospital can be reached within a few minutes by foot. Local amenities and public transport are available in the direct vicinity.

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CA Immo is selling a package comprising various sites in Berlin to the Berlin-based Groth Group for approximately €12 m. The package sold to the Groth Group, which specialises in residential properties, comprises two development areas: the site in Lichterfelde-Süd and the Flottwell Living project at the new Gleisdreieck park in Berlin, both of which have strong potential for residential construction across a combined surface area of 975,600 sqm².

Meanwhile Europacity, the district developed by CA Immo, has attracted another company: 50Hertz, the transmission system operator responsible for northern and eastern Germany. 50Hertz plans to construct a new corporate headquarters to accommodate up to 600 employees on the centrally located, 8,145-sqm site opposite Berlin's main station for a total investment price of €13.2 m.

According to Dr. Bruno Ettenauer, Chief Executive Officer of CA Immo, “These sales are an extension of our portfolio strategy. While focusing on office properties, we continue to pursue our aim of significantly reducing the proportion of development sites, which we call the land bank, in the portfolio”.

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The Crown Estate has acquired the freehold interest in Princes House in St James’s for £87 million, representing an Earnings Yield of 4.74%. Purchased from Aviva Investors, the 81,000 sq ft property straddles Jermyn Street and Piccadilly and has an impressive line-up of occupiers, including:

• Princes Arcade – a retail arcade of 16 units let to tenants such as Loake and Barker shoes;
• Over 6,000 sq ft of retail on Jermyn Street and Piccadilly;
• 33,000 sq ft of office space on Jermyn Street;
• BAFTA headquarters.

Kevin Price, COO at BAFTA, said: “This is an exciting time for St. James’s. Under The Crown Estate’s guardianship, the area is undergoing an amazing transformation and we are delighted to be a part of it. BAFTA shares a strong historical connection to The Crown Estate and looks forward to working with them towards their vision for the St. James’s of the future – and in particular their ambitions for promoting the rich cultural heritage of the area.”

The investment forms part of The Crown Estate’s £500 million St James’s investment programme, and brings Princes House back into Crown Estate hands for the first time in 182 years. The Crown Estate is the largest owner of freehold property in the core West End, and has made substantial progress in St James's in the last 18 months. It has now acquired nearly £240 million of new property interests as part of its strategy to secure a host of high profile lettings for the area.

Cushman and Wakefield, Cluttons, and Burges Salmon advised The Crown Estate.

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Capital & Regional plc has announced that The Mall Fund has completed the sale of The Castle Mall Shopping Centre in Norwich to Infrared European Active Real Estate Fund for a price of £77.3 million (approx. €98 million) representing an initial yield of 7.8%. This is in line with the June 2012 valuation.

Following this disposal and related debt repayment the fund's debt will be approximately £577 million which meets its 2014 amortization target under the CMBS. The proforma LTV will be 67% and net debt to value, reflecting the significant level of cash within the fund, would be less than 56% on a proforma basis.

To recommence distributions The Mall must meet two thresholds, being the debt must be below £600 million and the LTV must be below 60%.

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UK’s new Satellite Applications Catapult will be based at Harwell Oxford, a campus for science, technology and business with commercial high-tech clusters in Space, Healthcare Technologies, Digital/ICT, Cryogenics and Green Energy. Catapults, formerly known as Technology and Innovation Centres, are centres of excellence that bridge the gap between business, academia, research and government. Harwell Oxford is being developed by a joint venture between Goodman, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Making the announcement at the Farnborough International Air Show, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said:
“I’m delighted that the Satellite Applications Catapult will be located at Harwell. The Technology Strategy Board are already committed to investing £10 million this year alone in innovation in technologies that make use of satellite and space infrastructure. The Catapult will give real impetus to commercial development in this area, where the UK can set itself ahead of the competition. With the international reputation that Harwell already enjoys, it makes it an ideal location for the Catapult.”

The final decision to locate the Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell Oxford is subject to the agreement of commercial terms.

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Tech firms have doubled their uptake of office space in the Square Mile, the traditional home of London’s financial institutions, according to Knight Frank. A comparison of data for the first six months of 2012 compared to the same time in 2011 shows the transformational shift as firms such as Skype and Oracle take on space previously occupied by banks.

Bradley Baker, head of central London tenant representation at Knight Frank, commented: “We are gradually seeing the London economy reweight away from finance, and this is playing out in the City office market with the likes of activity from Mimecast, Skype and Weber Shandwick.

“Interestingly, activity by TMT firms is not restricted to Shoreditch and Clerkenwell, and in the future more City tenants may find themselves competing against tech and media firms for office space, even in more traditional locations such as Cheapside and Cannon Street.

Bradley Baker added: “We are also seeing a revolution in how firms are using space due to the growing tech influence, as break out areas and ‘think rooms’ start to break up the rows of desks, and wifi negates the need for workers to remain tied to their desk.”

Technology, Media and Telecomms (TMT) firms acquired 731,000 sq ft of office space in the first half of 2012, compared to 367,000 sq ft for the same time in 2011.

The sector accounted for 27% of office take-up in H1 2012. In 2007, at the start of the credit crunch, TMT accounted for only 10% of activity.

Bradley Baker explained: “The kinds of businesses coming into the City now are the sort which would, traditionally, have taken up office space in the West End.”

Major deals include Skype taking 88,000 sq ft at 2 Waterhouse Square, Weber Shandwick signing 65,000 sq ft in the same building, Oracle acquiring 22,000 sq ft at 1 South Place, and Yammer signing on 13,000 sq ft at 80 Great Eastern Street.

Daisy York, surveyor, Knight Frank central London tenant representation team commented: “Tech firms are absolutely competing for conventional core space. We advise a number of tech sector clients who require corporate, client-facing offices in core locations supported by creative, product-development focused operations in the regions and abroad. Exposed brick is not an option for these types of firms”

While much of the activity occurred in the Northern and Western City, which is typically associated with TMT, there are examples of tech firms migrating into the traditional City Core, which is favoured by financial firms. Monetise, an online payments group, took 42,000 sq ft at One New Change, and Bwin, an internet gaming firm, took 20,000 sq ft in the same building.

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IMW Immobilien SE signed an agreement on the purchase of shares of three companies which owned by the related company Warwick Square Ltd. The main asset of the bought companies is the property „Dukes Court“ in Woking. The transfer of the shares is back dated from 1 July 2012.

The property „Dukes Court“ is an office and commercial building with a rental space of approx. 21,000 m². The property is leased to fine standing tenants and achieved an annual net rent of 3.6 million GBP. The transaction volume accounts up to 52 million GBP.

With this investment in UK IMW Immobilien SE follows its new strategy to offset currency and economic risks occurred by the crisis of the Euro countries.

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The surge in supermarket development activity shows no sign of abating - growing by more than half since the credit crunch - despite the increasing economic uncertainties, according to the latest research from CBRE.

The supermarket pipeline in Great Britain has grown by a startling 57% since September 2007. The amount of new space in the pipeline at the end of the first half (H1) of 2012 increased to 5.34 million square foot.

Supermarkets now account for 38% of all shops in the development pipeline, up from 25% four years ago, and 39% of space under construction. The upturn in supermarket expansion activity is now broadly based, taking in both High Street and out-of-town stock; new development and new store acquisition.

Although the speculative shopping centre and retail park pipeline cumulatively declined by 13.6 million sq ft over the 2007-2011 period, the total shops pipeline – because of the grocery development upturn – has still grown by over 4 million sq ft.

Chris Keen, Director at CBRE, commented:
“There are not many sectors of the UK property market that are growing rapidly these days, but supermarkets are a notable exception. The withdrawal of speculative developers following the onset of the 2007 credit crisis provided supermarkets with a rare window of opportunity to increase expansion activity levels, an opportunity, most key grocery players grasped with alacrity.

“The main push continues to be for edge and out-of-town space because of its accessibility. Grocers are, however, also acquiring additional High Street stores, particularly in conurbations where it is more difficult to obtain planning permissions for superstore development.”

The growth surge is not affecting every grocery format in the same way. Difficulties have recently emerged at the very large store end with some grocery majors reporting disappointing non-food sales growth. Given the investment ploughed into non-food merchandising in recent years by grocers, the announcement that some major hypermarket development programmes were being axed was unexpected, particularly given that grocers’ share of non-food sales have almost doubled over the last decade to 14%: a startling rate of non-food trade diversion, dwarfing even that achieved by the internet over the same period.

In practice, nothing has yet filtered through to pipeline figures. Bearing in mind the very major planning obstructions in the way of securing 100,000 square foot plus hypermarket permissions (and the very small number of such schemes that have ever been in the pipeline anyway), paring back schemes at this level is not going to have a significant impact on grocery expansion activity.

Chris Keen commented:
“With speculative development at a recessionary low, grocery development is often the only game in town and could remain so for a lengthy period. We do not expect the supply of new supermarkets to dry up while non-food and service operators retreat from the High Street and smaller markets. The internet, home delivery, and ‘click & collect’ are unlikely to fill the hole and the obvious way of tapping local, everyday non-food items and services is via supermarkets. The scramble for grocery space consequently looks set to continue.”

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Schroder Property Investment Management Limited announces the appointment of Tony Smedley to the newly created role of Head of Pan European Fund Management, based in London.

Tony brings over 20 years of European property investment management experience having lived in the region and worked extensively across a number of markets in Continental Europe. Prior to joining Schroders he was Head of European Funds at Invista REIM where he was responsible for the development and management of the €1.5 billion Pan European investment business. He will report to Duncan Owen, Head of Property Funds, with whom he has previously worked at Jones Lang LaSalle and Invista REIM for about 15 years.

In his position as Head of Pan European Fund Management Tony will have direct reports including Tim Minns, Buddy Roes, the manager of Schroder Euro Logistics Fund and Michael Ruhl an MD based in Germany.

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Jones Lang LaSalle experts summarized the office market data and trends in Warsaw and other key cities in Poland after Q2 2012. Set out below are key finding from the research paper:

Demand
In Warsaw, approx. 173 000 sq m was leased in Q2 2012, which combined with the take-up registered in Q1 totals over 298,000 sq m in the last 6 months. New lease agreements represented 67% of the entire take-up volume in H1 2012, while the remaining 33% were renewals of the current leases. Importantly, pre-let agreements had a 30% share in all concluded transactions. The largest pre-lets in Q2 included T-Mobile signing for 27,000 sq m in Marynarska 12, being developed by Ghelamco and Allianz taking 6,800 sq m in Łopuszańska Business Park - also by Ghelamco. Q2 2012 saw also two large lease renewals from Axel Springer (9,100 sqm in Trinity Park I) and AXA (7,000 sq m in Warsaw Trade Tower). In addition to Warsaw, the main office markets in Poland, namely Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, Katowice, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin and Lublin featured a positive occupier sentiment with almost 180,000 sq m leased in H1 2012, of which 87,000 sq m was registered in the Q2 2012. Similarly to the capital city, the pre-let agreements represented 27% of all transactions. Amongst all office markets outside of Warsaw, Kraków and Tri-City took a clear lead in respect of occupier activity in both Q2 and in the entire H1 2012, with the largest deals in Q2 being: State Street (with a renewal of 12,600 sq m in CB Kazimierz by GTC and 3,100 sq m in Edison by GTC, in Kraków), a confidential newcomer from the financial sector (pre-let for 4,800 sq m in Bonarka4Business by TriGranit, in Kraków); Cisco Systems Poland ( a pre-let of 3,800 sq m in Enterprise Park by Avestus, in Kraków), Lufthansa Systems Poland (a pre-let of 3,500 sq m in Opera Office by EURO Styl – in Tri-City) and a company from a telecommunication sector ( a new deal for 3,300 sq m in CB Francuska by GTC – in Katowice).

Supply
Approx. 92,500 sq m of office space was delivered in H1 in Warsaw, including 45,000 sq m completed in Q2 2012. The largest buildings which came to the market last quarter include: Poleczki Business Park II by UBM/CA Immo (21,000 sq m), Platinium Business Park V by GTC (11,650 sq m) and Ufficio Primo by Kulczyk Real Estate Holding (5,900 sq m). Q2 2012 brought almost 39,000 sq m of new office space to the market outside of Warsaw, of which 52% was in the Tri-City; namely Garnizon.biz - Omega & Gamma by Hossa (9,600 sq m), BCB Business Park - B1 by BCB (8,900 sq m) and Jysk HQ (1,700 sq m). Other major new additions to the market were: Wojdyła Business Park II by Wojdyła (7,800 sq m) in Wrocław and refurbishment of Victoria Business Center by Monti (4,800 sq m) in Poznań. In H1 2012 the total new supply was 65,000 sq m with 490,000 sq m of office space being under active construction in the major cities in Poland (excluding Warsaw) - the majority of which is found in Wrocław, Tri-City and Szczecin. In total, nearly 1.1 million sq m are under construction across Poland including office buildings being developed in the capital city.

Vacancy rates
At the end of Q2 2012, approximately 7.4% of the modern office stock in Warsaw was vacant (7.8% in the Central Business District, 8.5% in the City Centre Fringe and 7.0% in Non-Central locations). The vacancy rates in the remaining key office hubs in Poland ranged from just below 4% in Wrocław to 14.5% in Łódź. Q2 2012 saw vacancy rates remain stable in Wrocław and Poznań, whilst slight downward pressures were observed in Kraków, Łódź and Katowice. Only Tri-City had an increase in the vacancy level, with the rate now standing at 9.1%, up from 7.0% in Q1 2012.

Rents
Prime headline rents in Warsaw remained stable when compared to the end of 2011. Prime office space in Warsaw City Centre now fetches between €22 and €25 /sq m/month. The best Non-Central locations, such as prime buildings in Mokotów, are being leased at €15.00 to €15.50/ sq m/month. During Q2 2012, prime headline rents remained stable also in the majority of office markets in Poland. Prime headline rents currently range from €11 to €13/sq m/month in Łódź, up to €16 in Poznań.

Tomasz Czuba, National Director, Office Agency, Jones Lang LaSalle comments: “The last few months have certainly been good for the office market. In the H1 of 2012, 158,000 sq m of modern office space was delivered, 92,500 sq m of which was completed in Warsaw. Our research indicates that further 182,000 sq m of new office space will be delivered to the Warsaw market in the H2 of 2012 and as much as 300,000 sq m in 2013. Currently, 1.1 million sq m of modern office space is under construction across Poland. In addition, we observe a positive occupier sentiment and a strong interest from tenants in the new office space, which is also reflected in the statistics. Despite the fact that companies are often looking for interesting, sustainable and green projects, cost effectiveness still remains a major factor in the decision making process.”

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Castellum AB has through the wholly owned subsidiary Aspholmen Fastigheter AB acquired five industrial properties of 63,180 m² in Örebro for SEK 299 million (approx. €34.8 million). The properties are located in the areas Aspholmen, Bista and Pilängen and are situated near the company’s existing portfolio. The occupancy rate was approx. 85% at the time of acquisition. The change of possession will take place in September.

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NCC Property Development is to divest a logistics facility at the Port of Gothenburg for SEK 224 million. The buyer is M&G European Property Fund, which is managed by Prupim. The property will be transferred in December and the resulting profit will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The transaction will be implemented in the form of a company divestment. The property, which is under construction at NCC’s site at the Port of Gothenburg, is fully leased to Amring (Amerikanska Ringdepoten AB), which will relocate at the end of 2012. The building comprises nearly 26,000 square meters of floor space.

“This is the second logistics facility to be sold in a short period of time and more sales are expected,” says Joachim Hallengren, President of NCC Property Development. “We have 122,000 square meters of land remaining to be developed at the Port of Gothenburg.”

The warehouse and logistics facilities constructed by NCC meet meticulous requirements in terms of minimizing the environmental impact. The property has been eco-classified at the level “Very Good” according to the BREEAM international environmental certification system.

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ISS will take care of the technical operation of the medical care centre in Uppsala. That became clear when ISS and the Uppsala County Council recently signed a three-year agreement, valued at SEK 10.5 million.

The contract includes supervision, care and maintenance. Overall, the care centre covers an area of approximately 34,000 square metres. The contract commences 1 September and will run for three years with a possible one year extension.

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Constructa Asset Management, on behalf of Carvall Investors, has signed a lease agreement with Gebrüder Weiss for 3,900 sq m warehouse space in M0 Central Business Park, Szigetszentmiklós. Gebrüder Weiss, a well known family business dealing with transportation and logistics moved in to the premise in March 2012. C&W is the exclusive letting agent of M0 Central Business Park.

The M0 Central Business Park is located in Szigetszentmiklós, 17 kms from the center of Budapest. The area is connected to the national and international traffic network by the M0 motorway in the southern boundary of Budapest. Due to the good location, the site has easy access from all directions. The M0 provides easy access to the M1, M7 and M5 motorways.

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As of June 2012, Népliget Center will be managed by Avestus Real Estate. This is not the first property management contract won by the company in Hungary. Besides Népliget Center, an office building with a floor space of 26,000 square meters, its portfolio includes Bank Center located in downtown Budapest. GLL Real Estate Partners GmbH, manager of the fund owning Nepliget Center and Avestus Real Estate have a history of partnership. They jointly manage and lease several buildings in various countries across Europe.

This is not the first property management contract won by Avestus in Hungary. The team of Avestus has been responsible for the PM activities of Bank Center in downtown Budapest since January 2010. Under the new contract, they will manage also Népliget Center, an office facility of 26,000 square meters located near the road to the airport.

Besides optimizing security, technical maintenance, cleaning and gardening (that is, facility management services), property management companies can achieve major cost savings also by adding more buildings to their portfolio.

“Sustainability efforts not only reduce operating costs in a few months’ time, but they also significantly enhance the value of the property. Népliget Center developed by Skanska has always been a leader in sustainability”, István Rézsó, Property Manager of Avestus, said.

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RE Netherlands Office has sold the office building Heemstedeveste located at Poeldijkstraat 4 in Amsterdam to a private investor.

The modern office building Heemstedeveste is a stand-alone building situated directly next to A10 in Amsterdam West. The property consists of five floors with a total lettable floor area of approx. 5, 711 m² as well as abundant on-site parking facilities. The building is leased to Kluwer B.V., AGA International and Stijl Advocaten.

The private investor has been advised by Cushman & Wakefield. NL Real Estate has advised RE Netherlands Office during the entire commercial process.

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The OVG Real Estate has acquired the office building at Basisweg 10 in Amsterdam. The entire building, comprising more than 60,000 m² GFA (completed in 1973), is leased to Cordares. OVG has bought the building from Bouwinvest Dutch Institutional Office Fund N.V. Loyens Loeff advised the buyer.

Bas van Holten, General Manager of Nederland OVG Real Estate, said:
"Current market conditions provide attractive opportunities for investment in existing buildings. This transaction fits into our philosophy and strategy of creating sustainability and value for the long term.”

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MGPA announced the refinancing of “Le Madeleine”, located in Paris, for €190 million with Helaba (Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen), PBB (Deutsche Pfandbriefbank) and LBB (Landesbank Berlin).

“Le Madeleine” is located in the Paris central business district, and comprised of 17,300 sqm of office and 11,700 sqm of retail space. The building was acquired by MGPA, on behalf of MGPA Europe Fund III, in 2009 and financed through a four year, €140 million loan. The asset is currently being redeveloped with delivery scheduled for March 2013. “Le Madeleine” is already 95% pre-let.

Helaba, acting as the agent, Landesbank Berlin and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank financed the operation through a 190 million euro, four year loan.

MGPA was advised by Jean Pierre Brulon and Maike Lorenzo of SCP Begon, Bonneau, Herbert, Bougearg & Brulon. Helaba, PBB and LBB were advised by Christope Jacquemin and Caroline Delavet of Allen & Overy and by Muriel Mignard of SCP Rochelois Besins et Associés.

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Allianz Real Estate France appoints Sébastien Chemouny (44) as Head of Asset Management. He joined Allianz Real Estate France in 2009 as Head of Portfolio Management. Since 2010, he has as well been in charge of the Property Management department.

Before joining the Allianz group, Sébastien Chemouny was working for GE Real Estate from 1999 to 2009 where he held various positions in France and in the US. Previously, Sébastien Chemouny worked for UAP and Dexia. Chemouny is graduated from ESPI and holds a DEUG advanced degree in mathematics.

Sébastien Chemouny will remain Head of Property Management and will at the same time be in charge of assets located in France and Benelux countries.

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Highlighting its commitment and aim to double French property AUM by 2015 Henderson Global Investors’ €15 billion property business has acquired Horizon Investment Management France SAS, a privately owned French asset management business. Founded in 1998, Horizon France focuses on asset management in the business sectors of the French real estate market and comprises advisory services for a €250 million Luxembourg closed-ended real estate fund; and seven asset management contracts to manage 25 properties.

As part of the acquisition, Henderson Property will take on 6 employees from Horizon France. Peter Winstanley’s company Winstanley & Associes, which acts as President of Horizon France, will take on the role of President for Henderson Global Investors (France) SAS (“Henderson Property France”). Thibault Ancely, Country Head Director of Horizon France, will be appointed Head of Henderson Property France. This will enable the combined business to manage the existing assets and provide the skills and capacity to meet growth expectations.

The combined team of 13 persons at Henderson Property France will manage the transferring mandates. The two businesses complement each other as Horizon France’s primary capability is in the business sector and Henderson Property France's primary expertise lies within the retail sector. The combination provides a balanced basis from which to target future growth within the French market.

Commenting on the French real estate market Andy Schofield, Director of Research, Henderson Property, says: “As Europe's second largest economy, France has consistently been a favoured destination for core real estate investors, a position exacerbated by the on-going sovereign risks associated with southern Europe. In a low growth environment, the defensive qualities of French commercial real estate, namely liquidity and transparency, are underpinned by the dominance of equity strong domestic investors. Demand for quality income from institutional and insurance firms, has further supported core valuations and robust performance forecasts.

Horizon Investment Management’s other European offices, in the UK and the Netherlands as well as its operations in Asia Pacific, are not included in the transaction. These will continue to be

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