CBRE Group Inc. has been selected by Shanghai Tower Construction & Development Co., Ltd. to provide property management consultancy services for the iconic Shanghai Tower—a 2,073-ft. (632-m) super-tall skyscraper currently under construction in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai in China. When completed in 2015, the 6.18 million-sq.-ft. (574,000-m²) mixed-use tower will be one of the most renowned commercial properties in China and around the world.

CBRE will initially serve as consultant to Shanghai Tower Construction & Development in developing property management and building operations strategies for Shanghai Tower. Upon completion of construction, CBRE will assume property management consultancy responsibilities in relation to the tower.

Designed by Gensler, Shanghai Tower will feature high-quality office space, a luxury hotel, a world-class retail complex, an observation deck, and other entertainment and cultural venues. The tower will also be one of the most advanced super-tall skyscrapers in the world in terms of sustainability, designed to achieve both LEED® Gold certification and the China Green Building Three Star rating. The tower will anchor Shanghai’s Lujiazui district, which is rapidly emerging as one of the leading financial centers in East Asia.

“Shanghai Tower will be one of the most prestigious properties we have ever managed, and a symbol of China’s distinguished position in the global economy,” said Brett White, Chief Executive Officer of CBRE. “We look forward to working with Chairman Kong Qing Wei and his team to establish the highest-calibre services for this world-class asset. Together, we will make Shanghai Tower one of the most desirable corporate and retail destinations in the world.”

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Newsec takes another step in its expansion and signs an alliance agreement with BNP Paribas Real Estate. BNP Paribas Real Estate is a comprehensive real estate advisor with presence in 30 countries and 3,400 employees. The alliance gives Newsec an improved platform to support clients outside Northern Europe.

With over 500 professionals in 20 offices Newsec covers all parts of the commercial property market in Northern Europe. Newsec provides services to most of the leading property owners, investors and corporates in the region.

„This new alliance really shows how much BNP Paribas Real Estate is willing and eager to develop internationally by working with the market leader in that part of the world. The synergies between our companies will clearly tend towards better service to our clients”, says Bernard Blanco, Head of International at BNP Paribas Real Estate.

BNP Paribas Real Estate is an international real estate advisor that provides, as Newsec, a comprehensive range of services that span the entire real estate lifecycle. BNP Paribas Real Estate is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas with more than 150 offices around the world.

“BNP Paribas's strong brand, broad range of services and global network gives us an international platform that creates value for our clients regardless of geography. The cooperation will further strengthen our market position in Northern Europe", says Max Barclay, Head of International Business at Newsec.

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Regent Hotels and Resorts (RHR), wholly owned by Formosa International Hotels Corporation (FIHC), has signed a long-term Strategic alliance agreement for the Regent brand with Rezidor Hotel Group AB. Effective immediately, RHR and Rezidor will jointly develop and operate new Regent hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA): Rezidor will exclusively develop and operate Regent hotels in Russia/CIS, Baltics, Middle East and Africa; and will jointly with RHR develop and operate new Regent hotels in the rest of Europe. RHR will continue operating existing Regent hotels in Europe.

FIHC had acquired the Regent brand and business in 2010 from Carlson and Rezidor, and since then RHR has refined its Asian hospitality combined with a modern luxury platform in order to position Regent at the forefront of the international five-star hotel market. With this Strategic Alliance, RHR will continue to focus primarily on mixed use development projects combining luxury hotels with branded residential components in the EMEA region. RHR currently operates Regent hotels in Beijing, Berlin, Taipei, Turks & Caicos and Zagreb. Projects under development include properties in Abu Dhabi, Bali, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Montenegro and Phuket.

„Our cooperation will strengthen our growth strategy while RHR continues to focus on unique hotel residential mixed use projects in the region. Together we hope to significantly increase the Regent hotel portfolio and international network“, said Steven Pan, Chairman of Regent Hotels and Resorts.

„The acquisition of the Regent brand and business by Formosa in 2010 allowed us to focus on our core brands Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson, and to strengthen our network in 70 countries across EMEA. A luxury brand was however never off our agenda, and we are delighted to complement our portfolio with Regent now“, commented Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor. Besides Europe's largest upper upscale brand Radisson Blu and the dynamic mid-market brand Park Inn by Radisson, Rezidor also operates the lifestyle brand, Hotel Missoni.

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The commercial real estate industry contributes around 2.5% to the total economy of Europe - more than the automotive, telecommunications and banking industries - according to new research commissioned by the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles (INREV) and the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA).

While other studies have shown that real estate in all forms accounts for nearly 20% of total economic activity, the new study reveals that the commercial property sector alone generated €285 billion for the European economy in 2011 and employs over four million people.

The independent report, entitled, Real Estate in the Real Economy, was designed to help national governments across Europe, officials in the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament better understand the scale and importance of the industry in supporting growth, jobs and sustainability. It provides a useful Europe-wide perspective on the sector, for the first time. Historically, data relating to the economic significance of the commercial real estate sector has only been collected at a national level, and often in an inconsistent manner.

Where individual national measures of GDP reflect the real estate market, they generally incorporate the commercial sector within a very broad calculation. In the UK, for example, real estate statistics include all economic activity related to the construction and sales of owner-occupied residential property.

Real Estate in the Real Economy focuses entirely on activity in the commercial sector including retail, offices, non owner-occupied residential, and warehousing and industrial. This means there is now an accurate measure of the specific contribution this important sector makes to the wider economy.

“This report provides a very useful snapshot and reference point. We’ve long needed comprehensive, independent data that demonstrate the hugely positive impact that commercial real estate has on the national economies and individual lives of people around Europe,” said Jeff Rupp, Director, Public Affairs, INREV.

The report was written by Paul Mitchell – a respected economist and independent researcher, as well as a specialist in European commercial real estate. It draws on data from a number of sources, including ECB, OECD, and Eurostat.

“We can see clearly from this report that our industry is an economic powerhouse delivering jobs and economic growth through the ownership, management and delivery of the built environment. ” added Gareth Lewis, Finance Director, EPRA.

As part of their joint efforts to raise policy makers’ awareness about the importance of the commercial real estate industry, INREV and EPRA have also spearheaded the creation of a new alliance of property associations. The informal group is being established to improve coordination on a European level. It aims to support the policymaking process affecting European commercial real estate by improving knowledge and understanding of the sector.

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Today, on 20 September, McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Neumünster will open its doors as the largest designer outlet in Northern Germany. The € 120 million centre is a joint venture between Henderson Global Investors, on behalf of its European Outlet Mall Fund (EOMF) and McArthurGlen.

The centre offers 26,000 m² of gross leasable area (20,000 m² sales space), of which 20,000 m² GLA is in the first phase opening on 20 September, and 6,000 m² GLA in the subsequent second phase. It also offers a total of 3,000 free parking spaces. Facilities also include a children’s play area and a City of Neumünster Tourism Office, on hand to advise on visiting the many sites and attractions in the area. As the centre becomes more established, it is expecting to welcome not only the 5.9 million shoppers living within a 90-minute drive, but also the more than 11 million tourists who visit Hamburg and the state of Schleswig-Holstein each year.

It is Henderson’s second outlet centre in Germany, following the opening of Designer Outlet Berlin in 2009, also owned by the Henderson European Outlet Mall Fund and managed by McArthurGlen. For McArthurGlen, it represents the 21st McArthurGlen Designer Outlet which signifies a coming of age for the company. McArthurGlen’s Designer Outlet Roermond, near the Dutch border with the state of North Rhine- Westphalia, and Designer Outlet Salzburg, also both serve the German market.

The centre is located a 40-minute drive north of Germany’s second biggest city, Hamburg, and just off the A7 motorway linking Scandinavia with Germany and Continental Europe. Tenants include Escada, Marc O`Polo, Strenesse, Lacoste and Desigual.

Andrew Rich, Fund Manager of EOMF at Henderson Global Investors, says: ”Designer outlets have been one of the strongest performing retail sectors across Europe over the past decade and have thrived during the economic downturn across our portfolio. Indeed, today, the European Outlet Mall Fund is one of Henderson’s most successful property Funds.”

“ We are very excited about the opportunity that McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Neumünster will create, both for the local community and our investors. The success of Designer Outlet Berlin has proved Germany to be an ideal location for designer outlets: It is Europe's biggest country in terms of population and economic wealth, as well as having a strong brand culture, a propensity to quality and a well developed fashion industry. We are confident that in Neumunster, the first class tenant line-up, coupled with the resilient nature of the outlet sector, will continue to deliver for our investors.”

Gary Bond, Managing Director, Development, McArthurGlen Group, says: “McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Neumünster offers a unique opportunity, on the doorstep of one of the most beautiful, historic, fashion-conscious and wealthiest cities in Europe – Hamburg. Like our other flagship McArthurGlen Designer Outlets, our new, 21st centre is designed to offer the ultimate shopping experience: with muchloved brands, vibrant architecture and design, and a customer service next to none. It’s also about weaving designer outlet shopping into the local and regional tourism offer, to in turn boost the local economy.”

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At the end of August, housing cooperative Baugenossenschaft Geretsried eG started construction of a new residential and retail complex in Sudetenstraße in Geretsried's central business district. Around 100 new rental and retail units are being built in two construction phases on a property measuring 13,000 m². The apartments, ranging from studios to two-bedroom dwellings, will be let on the open market. The pro-ject development is managed by IPH Handelsimmobilien GmbH.

The first construction phase will provide two retail units, which IPH has successfully leased to the discount chain Penny (1,060 m²) and the drugstore chain Rossmann (760 m²). As IPH's Matthias Stich ex-plains, another 1,600 m² of retail space is planned as part of the second construction phase. The lease negotiations for the other three retail units are under way and due to be completed shortly. Completion of the project in Geretsried's central business district is planned for 2014. The housing cooperative intends to retain ownership of the Sudetenstraße development after completion.

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The Supervisory Board of Bilfinger Berger SE has appointed Dr. Jochen Keysberg (46) as Member of the Executive Board with effect from November 1, 2012. Jochen Keysberg has been with the company since 1997 and is currently Head of Executive Management at Bilfinger Berger Ingenieurbau GmbH. After many years of commendable service in various functions within the Group, Klaus Raps will resign his position in the Executive Board at the end of 2012 and will leave the company by mutual agreement due to differing views on business policy.

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Micro Technica® Technologies GmbH has bought a 5,300 m² property 10 km north of Stuttgart. Realogis had the mandate for the purchase. On the property is a 2,900 m² production/warehouse building and around 630 m² of office space. Founded 22 years ago, this globally active company will use the property to develop, manufacture and sell cutting-edge processes, machines and plants in the field of deburring and surface technology. Vendor of the property at 2 Remsstraße in Kornwestheim is a private investor.

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Gazeley has completed a 30,000 m² build-to-suit warehouse for logistics service provider, Rigterink Logistics. Located close to Jena, Eastern Germany, the warehouse will centralise logistics and distribution services for some of the world’s most recognised food brands.

The state-of-the-art warehouse was developed on a 12.35 acre site close to the Hermsdorfer Kreuz motorway crossing. Following five months of construction, Gazeley has now handed the building over to Rigterink Logistics to begin the internal fit-out before using it for the storage and distribution of products. The new warehouse is located directly off the major A4 motorway and only three kilometres away from the Hermsdorfer Kreuz, the crossing with the A9 motorway (Berlin-Munich).

Bernd Rigterink, Director at Rigterink Logistics Group, said: “The new warehouse has been tailored exactly to our specific needs and, thanks to its high technical design standard, it serves as the ideal basis for our efficient and flexible food logistics operations. Gazeley has been a very reliable partner during the entire process.”

Ingo Steves, Country Director Gazeley Germany, commented: “Like all our new developments this building has been designed to achieve the sustainable “Silver Certificate” of the German “DGNB” (Sustainable Building Council). We are committed to ensuring that all our properties are sustainable and future-proofed, as well as excellently located to ensure easy access to a variety of transport routes.”

The district president, represented by Dr. Dietmar Möller, welcomed the new development: “This new warehouse secures existing jobs and offers the potential to create additional ones. It is proof of the growing economic power of our region, which at the moment has a moderate rate of unemployment, and it also works towards our aim of having a broad range of industries located in our region.”

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Rockspring Property Investment Managers announces the completion of German transactions valued at over €160 million since the start of 2012.

Acquisitions
Rockspring has acquired four value-add and core-plus properties across Germany on behalf of three separate Rockspring funds for a total consideration of €125 million. The four acquisitions include:
• Two core-plus retail warehouse centres in Bavaria and Berlin comprising The Iller Center, Senden, and a retail warehouse centre 3.5 km to the east of Alexander Platz respectively. Together, they comprise 49,500 m² of lettable space with an average purchase price of €1,440 per m². The centres are anchored by Edeka/Marktkauf, Saturn, Toom and Sconto.
• The 41,500 m² Löwen Center (a value-add opportunity), anchored by Real, Roller, Medi Max and Deichmann in Leipzig acquired for a price of €825 per m², Rockspring intends to re-gear all the leases in the 20 year old centre and undertake a refurbishment in 2013 with a further investment estimated at €6 million. Within days of purchase Obi signed a new 10 year lease on the 8,500 m² DIY unit.
• A single let logistics centre in Werl, North Rhein-Westphalia, close to the important Kamener Kreuz logistics hub. The 42,750 m² logistics property is fully let to the Europart Group, Europe’s leading distributor of spare parts and workshop equipment for commercial vehicles. The purchase was closed based on a price of €410 per m².

Stuart Reid, Partner of Rockspring with responsibility for Germany, stated that “All four acquisitions have been sales by foreign owners, three of which entered into the German market at its height and were looking for a clean exit to an equity purchaser. This trend is likely to continue as foreign banks and owners prepare further sales of non-core assets at attractive pricing over the next 24 months.” He added that “In effect, these assets are the right properties in the hands of the wrong owners offering great opportunity going forward for Rockspring with their strong German investment and asset management platform which has over euro 1.25 billion gross AUM.”

Disposals
At the same time, Rockspring has responded to the strong market interest in core properties by taking the opportunity to sell two core long leased retail warehouse properties on behalf of the €700 million Rockspring German Retail Box Fund (RGRBF). The properties in Jever and Krefeld have been sold to two German institutional purchasers for a total price of just over €30 million reflecting a price of €1,740 per m². Jever is fully leased for almost 10 years to the Famila Group and Krefeld has been recently fully refurbished by Rockspring and the RGRBF asset manager, Prime Management, and let on a new 15 year lease to Rewe. A further three sales of non-core holdings comprising €6 million in North Rhein-Westphalia have been undertaken to local German purchasers.

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Allianz Real Estate Germany GmbH is to welcome two new tenants to its mainBuilding in Frankfurt’s banking area. In December 2012, M&G International Investments Ltd. will be moving into 750 m² of office space at the building in the prestigious Taunusanlage district. Managing assets of €252.4 billion, M&G is one of the foremost investment fund companies. Meanwhile, Lapithus Servicing Germany GmbH has signed a lease for 600 m². Lapithus is part of the Lapithus Group, which takes care of complete loan asset management and the administration of housing, commercial and corporate borrowing throughout Europe on behalf of its clients. Following the signing of these two leases, mainBuilding is now 97% let.

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On 1 September the city-owned Berlin housing association Gewobag acquired 2,084 flats as well as 78 commercial premises and is currently administering almost 54,000 housing units. With that said, Gewobag fulfils the target value of the senate, according to which the six city-owned housing associations are to increase their portfolio from 270,000 to 300,000 units in the years to come in order to provide sufficient living space for broad classes of the population.

The properties have been bought by different subsidiaries of FFIRE Investment GmbH, which in turn belong to FFIRE Immobilienverwaltung AG. The flats are located in the urban districts of Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Spandua, Reinickendorf as well as Pankow; the basic rent amounts to an average of 4.75 Euros per square metre. Gewobag chairman Markus Terboven has expressed he is very happy about the deal. It corresponds to the strategy of the company to extend the home requirements to 60,000 units.

FFIRE itself only acquired the selling societies in May this year 2012 from the Tower Group A/S, Denmark. After the currently sold portfolio, the subsidiaries still have properties in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Poland available. The responsible consultant for both transactions was the law firm Olswang.

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According to a company spokesman, Deutsche Bank subsidiary RREEF would like to invest at least another 250 million Euros in additional purchases in Germany this year. It is planned to reach a total volume of 1 billion Euros of investments internationally in the whole year of 2012, which are to flow into classical commercial buildings like office-, logistics-, retail -and hotel areas, and on the other hand into German residential properties. The volume of all transactions (purchase and sale) is targeted at 2 billion Euros. Currently, RREEF is administering assets of about 47 billion Euros worldwide.

Plans for selling the asset management, dating back from the time of the retired spokesman Josef Ackermann, finally seem to be off the table. At last, negotiations with Guggenheim Partners have failed. The new management duo of the Deutsche Bank Anju Jain and Jürgen Fitschen have had the entire sector asset-management checked. Under the title “Strategy 2015+”, RREEF will be incorporated into the newly created company sector “Integrated Asset and Wealth Management”(AWM) alongside DWS Americas, Deutsche Insurance Asset Management and DB Advisors.

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The open-ended real estate fund Bouwfonds European Residential is adding residential buildings in Germany and France to its real estate portfolio. A total of € 40 million has been invested in the properties.

This 56-apartment property in Bonn, which is nearing completion, is located in the Nordstadt district, adjacent to Bonn’s historic city centre and in the vicinity of the August-Macke-Haus museum. The old town and the central station are within walking distance. The transaction is the fund’s first acquisition in this city on the Rhine. The residential units are spread over three floors, with an additional penthouse, and have lift access. All the residential units have a balcony or terrace and the building backs onto a leafy courtyard. 48 underground car parking spaces are being created beneath the building. The building offers a total living space of over 3,306 m². The investment volume is approx. € 9 million. The vendor is a private individual.

In the university town of Evry in the Ile-de-France region, the fund has added student accommodation, with 111 apartments and a concierge service, to its portfolio. The building is currently under construction, and has a rentable area of 2,039 m², spread over five floors. All the apartments are barrier-free and furnished. The property is being built to the latest technical and energy-efficiency specifications. The investment volume is approx. € 8 million. The vendor is the listed company Nexity, a French project developer.

The building, which houses 397 apartments, an office unit, a restaurant and a concierge service, is located in the Rangueil district of Toulouse, directly opposite the university “Université Paul Sabatier”. The student accommodation, which was built in 1992/93, has a rentable area of 9,677 m², spread over three buildings of between three and five storeys. This is the fifth property and the third student residential complex in France to be included in the fund’s real estate portfolio. The investment volume is approx. € 24 million. The vendor is Promologis, a provider of affordable housing.

The fund now has properties in Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The occupancy rate is around 98 percent. The Bouwfonds European Residential Fund is a real estate fund under German law. It is aimed primarily at institutional investors and affluent private clients with a minimum initial investment of € 500,000. The capital invested in real estate currently stands at around € 550 million. By the end of 2013, the fund management aims to have acquired residential property with a volume of € 750 million - 1 billion. Working with Catella Real Estate AG as the investment management company, Bouwfonds REIM is responsible for the fund’s performance and handles asset management through its local offices.

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The consortium made up of Hochtief Projektentwicklung, Norddeutsche Grundvermögen and the Frank Group has let a good 6,000 m² at Metropolis House beside the Hamburg State Opera House. Xing AG will be leasing three floors (fourth to sixth) as well as a large roof terrace on the seventh floor. The leading social network for professional contacts plans to extend its office premises and will relocate its corporate headquarters to Dammtorstrasse 29-33 in March 2013. This means that the 13,750 m² of office space at Metropolis House are now fully let. The building was completed in fall 2011.

Other tenants on the building’s eight office levels are Vattenfall Energy Trading and Performance Media Deutschland. Almost one-third of the ground floor is being used by the Hamburg caterer, Jim Block Restaurantbetriebe. Further space has been let to the grocery store Waku-Waku. Archive and storage space of 1,300 m² and almost 60 parking slots are provided in the three basement levels. The long-standing Metropolis movie theater with its historic auditorium has been carefully restored, fitted out with new technology, and reinstalled in an area of around 870 m². Metropolis House, on the future Opernboulevard, has been sold to a Deka Immobilien open real estate public fund.

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PVS Fulfillment-Service GmbH has leased 2,000 m² of warehouse/logistics space and approx. 350 m² of office space in Heilbronn at the agency of Realogis. The service company in the e-commerce field will use this property at 6 Schönbeinstraße, owned by an institutional investor, as a logistics centre for textiles and fashion. As from October 2012, PVS will be supplying mail-order companies, retailers and makers of branded products, specialist and magazine publishers, sport and fan shops, customer clubs and industrial companies from here. The new venue has excellent road connections to the number 6 highway „Stuttgart-Mannheim“ and the number 81 „Heilbronn-Stuttgart“.

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The new Scandic Hamburg Emporio was eco-certified and award-winning for its sustainable building even before it opened. The flagship hotel, with 325 spacious, eco-aware rooms and a conference centre with fantastic views on the seventh floor, embodies Scandic’s focus on the Nordics and Northern Europe. The biggest hotel chain in the Nordic region also meets Hamburg’s environmental vision as ‘European Green Capital 2011’, with a hotel in the heart of the city where guests can expect unique solutions in terms of sustainability, accessibility and design.

Scandic Hamburg Emporio takes pole position in the list of ‘50 Certified Green Hotels’, ranked by the German Business Travel Association (VDR) based on factors such as energy and water consumption, food and drink and corporate social responsibility. Exclusively using renewable electricity with Greenpeace Energy as its partner, the hotel will cut its carbon emissions by up to 1,000 tonnes per year compared with using conventional energy sources. The hotel is also set to be certified to carry the EU Ecolabel, but there is more than just the sustainability work to impress guests at the newly opened Scandic Hamburg Emporio. The generously proportioned rooms are a minimum of 24 sq m and have a ceiling height of up to 6.8 metres.

The hotel’s location is unbeatable. The exhibition and conference centre Hamburg Messe und Congress is within walking distance, there are excellent transport links and Gänsemarkt underground station is right opposite the hotel entrance. Whether guests are here for shopping or simply a relaxing hotel experience, Scandic Hamburg Emporio is the perfect place to stay,” says General Manager Folke Sievers.

The hotel’s water theme, by designer Jesper Waldersten, gives the guests a sense of a soothing marine environment, and in the appropriately named ‘H2O’ restaurant Scandic’s Scandinavian roots can also be seen in the seasonal menu. Up on the seventh floor the conference centre, with its impressive views of the Hamburg skyline, offers energising and innovative catering created by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has been working with Scandic for the past few years. Scandic Hamburg Emporio opened on 1 September.

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The last concrete was laid on the roof of the future headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Sales in Berlin-Friedrichshain this week. The foundation stone was only laid in November 2011 and the building is set to be completed by mid 2013. The building was designed by the Berlin architectural office of Gewers & Pudewill. The plot measures around 4,100 m² (44,100 ft²), with rental space of approximately 26,000 m² (280,000 ft²) right next to the O2 World and is laid out as several wings connected to a tower by a spine. From mid 2013, it will be here that the Sales and Service divisions for vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, smart, Mayback and Fuso will be managed for the whole of Germany. Mercedes-Benz Sales will combine the capacities of the two previous Berlin locations at the Friedrichshain offices.

According to Dr. Bruno Ettenauer, Chief Executive Officer of CA Immo, “We are happy that the structural shell of this building was completed in less than 12 months and in time. During this period, 18,100 m³ (23,674 yd³) of concrete and 3,500 metric tons of steel were used. From our point of view, the cooperation with Mercedes Benz once again underlines our status as a reliable partner when it comes to implementing development projects effectively.”

In order to meet the ambitious schedule, building owner and investor CA Immo appointed the subsidiary construction management company omniCon to manage the building project.

The new construction is being implemented as a green building. This had already started on the building site with strict separation of waste, noise control and avoidance of soil contamination and dust formation. Not only were ecologically compatible materials used for the building itself, but preference was also given, for example, to woods from sustainable forestry where wood was used.

The primary energy needs of the completed building will be approximately 26 % below the statutory provisions. Over 30 single-family houses can be heated with the savings achieved. The ecological measures also include water-saving taps, the use of gray and rainwater, a building shell improved by over 20% in energy terms and an intelligent lighting control system.

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The stock of property available for sale has increased by 10% compared with the same time last year and is at its highest point going into September since 2008 according to the latest research from Hamptons International. The summer slowdown has abated and those vendors who stalled over the summer months have picked up momentum ensuring that applicants looking in both London and the South now have a wider choice. Although applicant levels tailed off in August when compared with the previous month (4% decrease), there has been a 21% leap in applicants post the August Bank Holiday.

Marc Goldberg Head of Sales at Hamptons International says: “The summer slowdown really took hold this year and August should be seen in isolation due the distractions of the Olympic Games and the summer Bank Holiday getaway. September is typically a busy month and so far, the market is off to an even busier start as we have the highest supply of property for sale in five years which coincided with a resurgence of applicants looking to capitalize on the increased amount of choice.” Looking at the figures from a regional standpoint, Hamptons International’s South Eastern region, across Surrey and Sussex, saw a 5% drop in buyer registrations in August but experienced 7% more viewings and 8% more offers when compared with the same time last year. Howard Bettridge Regional Director at Hamptons International says: “Although applicant levels dropped throughout August, the increased viewing and offer figures highlight that confidence and motivation has improved. vendors should be encouraged that registered buyers are serious about their property search. This motivation, coupled with increased stock levels means optimism is high for a healthy Autumn sales market.”

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The Unite Group plc and GIC Real Estate announced the extension of their existing joint venture (Unite Capital Cities, „UCC“) and the creation of a new partnership through which Unite will undertake its next phase of London development activity.

The transaction, which is expected to be accretive to both Unite's earnings and NAV whilst also delivering a reduction in the Group's leverage, comprises four principal components:

• An extension in the life of UCC until September 2022 from March 2013.

• The establishment of a separate 50:50 joint venture (the London Student Accommodation Joint Venture, „LSAV”), which will seek to invest £330 million in development activity in London over the coming years.

• The forward sale by Unite to LSAV of two of its existing London development projects following practical completion and stabilisation for cash consideration in line with previously disclosed valuations on completion. For LSAV, these acquisitions will be in addition to its planned development programme.

• A mechanism whereby Unite has the ability to increase its stake in UCC from 30% to 50% by 31 December 2016, at which point UCC and LSAV can be merged into a single entity.

From a strategic perspective the transaction allows Unite to accelerate its investment in London development activity at a time when potential returns are particularly compelling and the scale of opportunity is greater than Unite could fund alone. Furthermore, the forward commitment sale of two properties to LSAV will allow the Group to realise meaningful development profit and reinvest capital into development activity without diluting earnings.

UCC extension
UCC, which was established in March 2005 and had an original maturity date of March 2013, will be extended to a new maturity date of September 2022. In conjunction with the extension, Unite will be undertaking a portfolio repositioning and refinancing exercise for UCC in the coming years as follows:

• Approximately £100 million of UCC's existing assets, equivalent to around 25% of its total portfolio at 30 June 2012, will be sold over the next four years. The disposals will be targeted so as to focus UCC's remaining holdings on its highest quality London locations and the majority of proceeds will then be applied to de-leveraging in the JV.

• UCC's existing senior debt facility of £236 million, provided by a syndicate of lenders headed by HSH Nordbank, matures in September 2014 and will need to be replaced with a new facility. It is Unite's intention to have the replacement facility arranged and in place during 2013.
Unite's UCC performance fee will become payable on the later of 31 March 2013 and the refinancing of the current senior debt facility. UNITE expects this performance fee to be worth between £5 million and £8 million, although no value is currently recognised in the Group's accounts.

Formation of LSAV and future London development programme
LSAV will be a new joint venture between Unite and GIC, alongside UCC. Both Unite and GIC will have a 50% stake and LSAV will have the same maturity date as UCC (September 2022). It will be the primary vehicle through which Unite undertakes development activity in London and will have a right of first refusal over Unite’s London development projects until such time as its capital investment targets are met.

LSAV has contracted to acquire two properties from Unite on a forward commitment basis (see below) and in addition plans to invest approximately £330 million in London development activity over the coming years, equivalent to between 3,500 and 4,000 new bed spaces. Unite's share of LSAV development capital expenditure is £165 million, which is expected to be invested over the period 2013 to 2017 (by which time all projects are expected to be operational) at anticipated leverage of 65% loan-to-cost. This means that the Group expects to invest approximately £58 million of equity into LSAV’s development programme.

Development opportunities in London remain compelling and the Group already has potential development projects in solicitors hands or at an advanced stage of negotiation that would account for nearly 75% of LSAV's planned development spend if pursued. LSAV will focus the majority of its investment in projects offering below average rents for London, targeting sites with strong transport links and local amenities. Unite and GIC can agree to extend the development programme by a further £200 million once the existing capital has been committed.

Forward commitment sales
Unite has contracted to sell, on a forward commitment basis, two of its existing London development projects (following practical completion and stabilisation) to LSAV for an initial cash consideration totalling £129 million. This initial consideration is subject to a performance-related adjustment of +/- 10% after two years' operation of each asset. The properties to be sold are North Lodge, Tottenham Hale, a recently completed 528 bed property scheduled for occupation later in September , and Stratford City, a 951 bed development scheduled for completion in 2014. These sales are at values in line with the most recently disclosed estimated valuations on completion for the properties and will realise £39 million of development profit for the Group.

The disposals will release approximately £34 million of cash, after accounting for Unite's 50% retained investment, which will be used to fund part of the Group's planned equity investment into LSAV's development programme. The cash released is equivalent to approximately 60% of the required investment and the remainder will be released from the Group’s ongoing disposal programme.

UCC/LSAV merger mechanism
Unite has an opportunity to increase its stake in UCC from 30% to 50% by 31 December 2016 and Unite and GIC have agreed a number of ways in which this can be achieved:

• The Group will apply its share of proceeds from UCC's asset disposal programme, after the repayment of associated senior debt, to acquire units in UCC from GIC at prevailing NAV.

• The Group will also use its UCC performance fee, when paid, to acquire further UCC units from GIC, again at NAV.

• The Group has an option to sell its recently completed Waterloo Road property (currently wholly owned) to UCC at Open Market Value subject to the NOI yield at sale being no lower than 6%. The asset is currently valued at approximately £22 million.

At 30 June 2012, UCC’s NAV was £156 million and Unite estimates that between 75% and 100% of the cash required to exercise its option to increase its UCC stake from 30% to 50% will be derived from the various mechanisms outlined above. To the extent that further funds are required, and if it so chooses, the Group can use its cash resources to acquire further units from GIC at NAV, prior to 31 December 2016.

If Unite's stake in UCC reaches 50% before 31 December 2016 then UCC will merge with LSAV by way of a unit for unit exchange at NAV. In the event that Unite's stake does not reach 50% before that date, then UCC will continue as a separate vehicle.

Unite's management role
The Group will act as Property Manager, Asset Manager and Development Manager for the duration of both joint ventures. Its fees for performing these services are in line with the existing UCC fee levels.

Financial impact
The transaction enables Unite to continue growing its recurring earnings whilst also investing in development activity and reducing leverage over time. It is expected to be meaningfully accretive to both earnings and NAV over the coming years. The key financial elements of the transaction are as follows:

• It allows the Group to accelerate significantly accretive development activity at a time when returns from development are particularly compelling.

• The sale of assets on a forward commitment basis allows the Group to commit capital to future development activity without the earnings dilution that would arise from the sale of income producing assets to fund this investment.

• The probable early crystallisation of the UCC promote in 2013/2014 (estimated value £5 million to £8 million) will increase NAV as there is currently no value attributed to it in the Group's accounts.

• The Group's share of NOI from the future development pipeline is expected to contribute to earnings growth from 2015.

• Fees receivable are accretive to earnings and the Group's return on equity.

• A greater proportion of the proceeds from the Group's ongoing asset disposal programme can be applied to de-leveraging, thereby helping to reduce gearing over time both on a balance sheet and on a look through basis.

Mark Allan, Chief Executive of Unite, said: “This transaction is a further important step for Unite and is consistent with our objectives of growing recurring earnings, undertaking accretive development activity without stretching the Group's balance sheet and reducing leverage over time. It also gives us increased firepower in the London market at a compelling time, allowing us to increase our presence and investment in London, our key target market, where we now expect to have over 13,000 bedrooms within five years.

„Successfully extending and expanding our joint venture relationship with such a high calibre partner as GIC is testament to the track record that Unite has built and further demonstrates the continued appeal of the UK student accommodation sector to investors around the world.“

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Hammerson has exchanged conditional contracts to acquire Royal London's interest in the 155 year headlease of the Whitgift Centre, Croydon. The consideration for the 25% stake is £65 million.

There is significant asset management and development potential for the both the centre and Croydon's wider retail core. In conjunction with Hammerson's existing ownership of the adjacent Centrale centre, the acquisition will strengthen Hammerson's ownership interest in Croydon. In July Hammerson revealed plans for the Whitgift Quarter, a 150,000 sq m development which will restore the town to its rightful place as one of the UK's leading shopping destinations.

The plans include up to 130,000 sq m of new retail and leisure space on the site of the Whitgift Centre, additional leisure space, and up to 500 residential units. Hammerson has already demonstrated its commitment to Croydon with its plans to extend and refurbish the Centrale shopping centre to create a family leisure quarter, which received planning permission in May. Whitgift Quarter will incorporate the extended Centrale and a revitalised North End as well as the redeveloped Whitgift Centre site, transforming Croydon's whole town centre to the benefit of all the town's stakeholders. A public consultation programme on the Whitgift Quarter plans began last week and the latest version of the plans will be presented to Croydon Council's Strategic Planning Committee in October. Subject to planning consent, work will start on site in the first quarter of 2014 with completion as early as 2017.

David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said: „We are absolutely committed to the delivery of our plans for Croydon, and we are confident that the development of the Whitgift Quarter will play a key role in the regeneration of the town. This transaction with Royal London is a key milestone in the development of our plans and our strategy to deliver a new retail core for Croydon. We are seeking to work collaboratively with all the owners and other stakeholders to bring forward this exciting scheme.“

Drew Watkins, Senior Fund Manager at Royal London, said: „Ever since our first discussions with Hammerson, we have been hugely impressed with their commitment to Croydon, and the quality of their vision for the Whitgift Centre. Having been investors in the Whitgift Centre for many years, we are confident Hammerson is the right company to deliver the retail solution that Croydon needs.“

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Demolition works have started at 100 Cheapside, one of the City’s most significant development projects. Following the 12-week demolition, construction on the 100,000 sq ft Grade A office and retail development will start in January before scheduled completion in 2014.

Joint venture partners CarVal Investors, Orion Capital Managers, the City of London Corporation and Quadrant Estates are developing the new BREEAM ‘Excellent’ building, which will offer office floor plates of up to 11,000 sq ft over 10 floors, targeting core City occupiers looking for Grade A space. Tristram Gethin, managing director and founding partner of Quadrant Estates, who is overseeing the development, commented on behalf of the investors:

“This is an important milestone and kicks off the ground works on site. Following demolition of the existing buildings, we will be on course to start construction in the new year.” 100 Cheapside is located in the heart of the City of London, between the Bank of England and St Paul’s and benefits from excellent transport links. This prime site is one of the last pieces of Cheapside to be redeveloped. The development will include 9,000 sq ft of retail accommodation, which is likely to attract major brands looking for exposure to the City retail market on this prime retail thoroughfare.

The location will also benefit from the City Corporation’s Cheapside Retail Initiative, which aims to significantly enhance the local streetscape and will reinforce Cheapside as one of the City’s main shopping destinations. CBRE and BNP Paribas Real Estate act for the joint venture partners on the leasing of 100 Cheapside.

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Orchard Street Investment Management LLP announced the appointments of Matthew Littler and Andrew Thomas as Asset Managers.

Prior to joining Orchard Street, Matthew Littler was a Senior Asset Manager at Axa Real Estate for seven years. During this time he was responsible for the performance of property portfolios for several of Axa’s insurance and pension fund clients and for the implementation of its sustainability policy for all UK assets under management. Matthew has over 17 years’ experience in the property industry. Andrew Thomas joins Orchard Street from Cushman and Wakefield Investors where he was a Senior Investment Manager responsible for transactions and investment management of UK commercial property on behalf of discretionary and advisory mandates. He previously spent three years at Quintain Plc as an Asset Manager and has over eight years’ experience in the property industry.

These new appointments follow the recent period of growth in the size and breadth of the Orchard Street business, which currently has more than £3 billion of assets under management, including substantial equity available for investment in UK commercial property. Chris Bartram, Chairman of Orchard Street, said: “We are delighted that Matthew and Andrew have joined Orchard Street Investment Management. They join a strong and stable team, bringing good experience and additional capacity to supplement it. They are already both active, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.”

Matthew Littler said: “I am thrilled to have joined one of the fastest growing UK property investment management firms which has the breadth of experience and talent to justify its enviable reputation and excellent client base. I look forward to working hard to further that success.” Andrew Thomas said: “With the combination of an excellent reputation, track record and genuine dynamism, I am looking forward to contributing and building on the success achieved so far.”

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BNP Paribas Real Estate has acquired 16 – 18 Beak Street, London W1, on behalf of its client DTZ Investment Management. The 1,097.84 sq m (11,817 sq ft) building was sold by Allied Commercial for £13.1 million, reflecting an initial yield of 4.66%.

Situated in a prime Soho position just off Regent Street, adjacent to Golden Square and Carnaby Street, 16 – 18 Beak Street comprises an attractive period building arranged over six storeys with a restaurant at ground, and basement and warehouse style offices above. Tim Hugill, West End Investment Director at BNP Paribas Real Estate, commented: “From the outset, given the lot size, profile and location we were very keen to secure this property for our client. It is a very attractive block with multi let offices, set above an incredibly prominent corner restaurant in one of the busiest and most popular locations in the West End.” Allied Commercial was advised by David Baroukh Associates.

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Peel’s plans to transform a 26 acre site at Chatham Docks into an exciting £650 million development have not been called in by the Secretary of State. Peel Land & Property’s outline planning application for Chatham Waters will transform the current brownfield site into an impressive 1.9 million sq. ft. mixed use development incorporating; offices, an education facility, an ‘EventCity’ conference centre, a hotel, apartments and town houses, a food store and a number of landscaped public areas. It is estimated the plans could create 3,500 jobs.

James Whittaker, Development Director at Peel said, “We’re delighted the Secretary of State has approved outline plans for Chatham Waters. Our proposals will regenerate and breathe new life into a significant area of the dockland and give the region a real economic boost. We have started to prepare detailed plans for the first phase and we hope to be start building on the site next year." Leader of Medway Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, said: “This is a major step forward for the regeneration of Medway and is a clear indication of how the area is growing and continuing to attract significant investment from developers and businesses. “Not only will it create thousands of jobs for residents in the near future, but it will provide opportunities for future growth and unrivalled facilities for residents and visitors alike to enjoy and benefit from.”

The Secretary of State decision follows outline planning approval from Medway Council earlier this year after two years of discussions with the Council and a public consultation last year where Peel showcased their master plan and met with locals to gauge public opinion. Findings from the consultation revealed that 90% of those A Division of questioned were in support of the scheme and over 95% were assured it would give the area a huge boost. Indigo Planning, Planit ie, Traffic Transport & Highway Consultancy and 5 Plus Architects are advising Peel on the scheme.

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Segro apponts Christopher Fisher and Baroness Ford as Non-Executive Directors with effect from 1 October 2012 and 1 January 2013, respectively. Andrew Palmer, Senior Independent Director, and Chris Peacock, Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, will be retiring from the Board at the Company’s AGM on 23 April 2013, following nine years of service.

Andrew Palmer, Senior Independent Director, and Chris Peacock, Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, will be retiring from the Board at the Company’s AGM on 23 April 2013, following nine years of service.

Christopher Fisher has over 30 years of corporate finance experience, principally gained at Lazard where he became a Managing Director and then at KPMG where he was Vice Chairman, Corporate Finance. In June 2012, Christopher was appointed as Chairman of Bank of Ireland UK plc, having been a Non-Executive Director since 2010. He is also currently a senior partner at Penfida Partners, a consultancy providing corporate finance advice to pension fund trustees.

Baroness Ford has held a number of senior positions in both the public and private sector and was appointed a Working Peer in 2006. Most recently she has served as Chairman of the Olympic Park Legacy Company for the past three years, where she successfully negotiated the planning consent for the whole Olympic site and secured the commercial future of six out of the eight 2012 London Olympic sites. She has also been Chairman of English Partnerships, the national regeneration agency for England. Baroness Ford is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Barchester Healthcare and May Gurney Integrated Services plc. She is also a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee for Grainger plc. She has previously served as the Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee for Serco Group plc. She will become the Senior Independent Director, succeeding Andrew Palmer, and Chair of the Remuneration Company, succeeding Chris Peacock, following the conclusion of the Company’s 2013 AGM.

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Pinsent Masons has advised fully listed Redefine International P.L.C. on a proposed Firm Placing and Open Offer to raise £127.5 million. The fundraising represents a significant step in Redefine's growth. The net proceeds of the fundraising will be used to reduce the Group's indebtedness and to take advantage of distressed and/or attractive investment opportunities.

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Terrace Hill Group plc announces the conditional acquisition of a foodstore and residential development site in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, and good progress with three other foodstore developments around the country.

Midsomer Norton, Somerset
Terrace Hill has exchanged conditional contracts to acquire a 12 acre former industrial brownfield site in Midsomer Norton for regeneration into a mixed use scheme comprising a 50,000 sq ft foodstore and six acres of residential housing. The site will be acquired from paper bag manufacturer Welton Bibby & Baron, which is relocating to new premises. A planning application is expected to be submitted in the first quarter of 2013. Completion of the acquisition of the site is conditional on obtaining planning consent for the mixed use development.

St. Austell, Cornwall
Terrace Hill is on target to submit a planning application in September for a new 80,000 sq ft foodstore on a site on Penwinnick Road close to the centre of St. Austell. The site is currently occupied by Cornwall Council in offices which will be relocated to new premises to be constructed by the Council on an adjoining site. Development is expected to commence in the middle of 2013.

Sedgefield, County Durham
The Group has forward funded its 48,800 sq ft Sainsbury’s foodstore development at Sedgefield with the Eyre Estate for £16.1 million. Construction will start in October with completion scheduled for May 2013.

Skelton, East Cleveland
Construction is now underway at the Group’s 41,800 sq ft foodstore development in Skelton. The scheme is presold to Asda through a £13.5 million forward funding agreement, and completion of the development is due in March 2013.

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The total amount of development activity in the City, taking into account planning applications, consents and developments under construction, has increased marginally over the last 12 months, standing at 20.5m sq ft, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate’s latest refurbishment and development activity report. There has been an increase in both expected completions and planning applications, although the amount of space with planning permission fell during this period.

Dan Bayley, MD of Central London at BNP Paribas Real Estate, commented: “At the end of August this year, a couple of new starts brought the total volumes of space under construction in the City to 4.07m sq ft. However, the level of completions will remain restricted this year with just 0.58m sq ft coming to the market and another 0.99m sq ft scheduled for delivery in 2013. Looking ahead, development completions are expected to rise above 2m sq ft in 2014, when 122 Leadenhall Street and 20 Fenchurch Street are due to complete, both of which have already been part pre-let to insurance occupiers.”

There has been little overall change to the total level of development activity in the West End since autumn 2011. Both volumes of space with planning consent and at the application stage have decreased during this period, but the fall was offset by a strong rise in the amount of space under construction. After a quiet period of speculative development, completion levels are expected to return to trend, as more schemes have started during the first half of this year.

The amount of space under construction in the West End now totals 2.59m sq ft, a 25% increase on 12 months ago. A total of 0.62m sq ft is due to complete during the rest of 2012. A further 1.61m sq ft of new space is expected to be delivered in 2013, significantly higher than the 10 year average level. With a lack of good quality stock for immediate occupation, over a quarter of developments under construction have attracted pre-lets.

The Midtown office market continues to be characterised by a lack of grade A stock. Space under construction has increased with 0.33m sq ft scheduled for completion this year and in 2013, led by small scale refurbishments.

“Following the major pre-let to European Medicines Agency, construction activity has returned to the Docklands office market for the first time since the summer of 2009. There remains some 11m sq ft of planning permission for offices and Canary Wharf is hoping to tailor this to attract a broader nonfinancial occupier base including tenants from the growing TMT sector,” added Bayley.

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LaSalle Investment Management announces that a specialist investment fund of LaSalle Investment Management Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH, which was launched in 2011, has completed the acquisition of a core retail investment in Manchester City Centre.

The 16,496 square foot (ca. 1,530 m²) property is centrally located on St Ann's Square, providing HSBC Bank with their flagship branch in the City. The building was extensively refurbished in 2007, and offers a good income profile with an unexpired term in excess of 14 years. The property was purchased for £8.05 million (ca. € 10 million), reflecting a net initial yield of 5.75%.

LaSalle Investment Management was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle, and DTZ Investment Management by BNP Paribas.

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Colliers International has appointed Vikki Thomas as a Graduate Surveyor in its Healthcare team. With personal experience in property management, Vikki decided to further her knowledge and understanding by completing a degree in Property Management & Investment at the University of West of England, gaining a First Class honours.

Her first role post-degree was as a trainee Business Surveyor & Valuer for Pinders in Milton Keynes where she specialised in the Healthcare sector. Vikki now joins Colliers International to further her career in this specialised sector. Adam Lenton, Head of Healthcare Valuations and Agency at Colliers International commented: “We are delighted to welcome Vikki to our already successful and expanding healthcare team.”

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Falling values and shorter tenancies in the UK property market have led to more UK investors and funds specifically targeting long leased assets, in a bid to protect income streams and values. This says IPD. However, the increasing competition amongst investors for a dwindling number of long leased assets has placed a price premium on these properties. As a result, their income return has actually been less than that received on standard UK assets, and overall total returns have been much the same for the different lease lengths.

Nevertheless, new income stream research from IPD has found that long leased assets offer a considerably higher degree of protection for values. Capital values for long leased assets have are 22 per cent lower than their 2007 peak, whilst assets with standard leases have values down 32 per cent. As a result, investor appetite for the assets has remained, not only to meet liabilities and debt repayments, but to also to protect values from falling further, which protects against any potential breach of covenant. Those funds specialising in long term income streams, of which there has been a steady increase in the last five years, have managed to show further discernment in their asset selection, which has protected asset values considerably: assets in long leased funds are only down 15 per cent from their 2007 peak.

Long lease shortage
The struggling UK occupier market means long leased income is increasingly hard to find. The average newly signed lease is under five years in length, and less than five per cent of new leases signed in 2011 were over 20 years in length. Furthermore, properties that command long leases are often built to specific tenant specifications, as part of a development, and thus are difficult for investors to obtain.

The subsequent premium on prices is pushing down income returns, though investor appetite has yet to be stunted. There are still some alternative sectors of the UK market that have a prevalence of long leased tenants. In the hotels market, budget operators are keen to expand and thus sign long lease sale and lease backs, and a similar situation has emerged in the supermarkets sector, with many of the big players having announced, or completed, ambitious expansion plans in the last few years. Similarly the primary healthcare sector (predominantly GP surgeries), has potential for massive private expansion. However, each sector is not without its pitfalls. The Primary Care Trust is being extensively reformed, which will lead to the largest shake up in the sector since WWII, the sustainability of budget hotel operators should not be taken for granted (Travelodge), whilst supermarket expansion plans have already been halted amidst profit warning downgrades.

Andrew Gerrity, Client Manager at IPD, explained: “The battle for long leased assets is almost the polar opposite of the fight between overseas investors for safe haven London assets. In London it’s about value preservation, while for long leases it’s about income preservation. Growth in capital values is almost ignored in the desire to secure a long term cash flow, but this is now, perversely, leading to a similar price war over assets, and is making them expensive. The fierce competition is actually changing the returns in the sector, making income returns lower, and capital growth higher. A key problem for those looking for long leased assets is that long leases are rare for a reason – tenants don’t, generally, want to be signed up to them. With tenant demand so weak because of the economy, landlords have incentivised and shortened leases in a bid to get tenants in and paying rents, which has put an incredible premium on assets that do command long lease tenants.”

Further difficulties for the sector
Long leases do not come without their fundamental difficulties, aside from the shortage of availability. A recent IPD Obsolescence report for UK offices, commissioned by the BCO, found that 25 year leases are a primary cause of dilapidation and obsolescence in properties, as they discourage investment into assets during the duration of the leases. Gerrity concluded, “Long leased assets, and funds geared at utilising them, are achieving stable returns in the current market, but those entering the market now are paying an extremely high price for this income security.” IPD is also initiating research into the performance of RPI linked leases, though for the moment very few UK assets utilise them, especially outside of the supermarkets and office segments.

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Pramerica Real Estate Investors announced the successful sale on 31 August 2012 of a portfolio of five senior living facilities located in the United Kingdom to a subsidiary of HealthCare REIT, Inc. for a purchase price of £154 million. Pramerica Real Estate Investors is the European arm of the real estate investment management and advisory business of Prudential Financial, Inc., which is headquartered in the United States. CBRE Specialist Markets, PWC and Eversheds acted for the joint ventures in the sale.

The five facilities were all opened in 2009 and comprise a total of 522 beds. These facilities were the final five communities held in two separate joint ventures between Sunrise Senior Living Inc. and institutional funds managed by Pramerica that were set up in January 2005 and January 2007. Sunrise will remain as the operator of the facilities.

In total these two joint ventures have developed and sold 22 senior living facilities in the U.K. of more than 1.4m sq ft with more than 2,100 beds. These facilities opened over a period from January 2006 through October 2009 and were sold for a total investment volume of approximately £700 million.

“This is a sector that we identified some time ago as offering significant potential for value growth, and the pricing we have demonstrated on our sales shows the strong location and quality of the assets as well as the out performance that has been achieved by our partner Sunrise”, commented Philip Barrett, Managing Director at Pramerica.

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Orchard Street Investment Management LLP has purchased Joule House at Trafford Park in Manchester for £7.6 million from Peel Land and Property Investments plc. The acquisition was made on behalf of a client of Orchard Street and reflects an initial yield of 6.5%.

Joule House, a 48,082 sq ft data centre, is let to Telecity Group UK Limited, Europe’s leading provider of data systems, for a further 13.5 years with annual RPI linked rental uplifts. Telecity is due to imminently complete a £28 million refurbishment and fit out of the building. Joule House is located near MediaCityUK on Trafford Wharf Road, just 1.4 miles west of Manchester city centre.

BNP Paribas Real Estate acted for Orchard Street Investment Management and Whitaker Horton acted for Peel Land and Property Investments plc.

Commenting on the acquisition, John Humberstone, Partner at Orchard Street, said: “We are delighted to have completed the purchase of Joules House. This is a high quality asset which benefits from a strong and committed tenant on a long lease with annual RPI uplifts and an excellent location.”

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As part of Knight Frank’s ongoing commitment to expand their retail investment services, Andrew McGregor has been appointed as head of leisure and out of town retail investment. Andrew joins the team from Savills, where he was a director in the retail warehouse and leisure investment team.

Within his new role, Andrew will continue his strong track record in the leisure investment sector, whilst developing Knight Frank’s scope in retail warehouse investment through direct investment transactions and targeted recruitment.

He will be working alongside Bruce Nutman, appointed from CBRE last year as head of retail investment, providing a comprehensive range of services to Knight Frank’s existing tenant and landlord clients.

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In a UK first Aylesbury Vale Estates (AVE), the local asset backed vehicle (LABV) set up by Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) and a consortium of private sector investors coordinated by Guildhouse UK, has acquired Hale Leys Shopping Centre in Aylesbury from Warner Estate. AVE, with significant financial backing from AVDC, has purchased the freehold of the 95,000 sq ft centre, which occupies a key location in the heart of the town centre linking Market Square to the High Street, opposite Marks & Spencer. The 20 retail unit centre is anchored by large Boots and Next stores. Savills acted for Warner. Strutt & Parker represented AVE.

AVE was was set up in 2009. Its purpose was to acquire the majority of AVDC’s non-operational property interests – a total of some 250 premises in Aylesbury, Buckingham and local villages - including industrial estates, shops and offices along with development sites. Since then, AVE has been re-positioning the portfolio and enhancing the income stream through a programme of asset management and development initiatives. An affordable housing scheme of 50 units is shortly to commence and a new trade park on the southern part of Aylesbury’s ring road is currently pre-letting.

AVE’s latest acquisition provides the opportunity for significant physical and tenant mix improvements to be made to the centre. The key location of Hale Leys - adjacent to a major development site (the north side of Exchange Street) - means that it has a vital role to play in redeveloping the town centre. The on-going programme of work will ensure that town’s whole offer, including the existing Friars Square shopping centre and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, works together to make Aylesbury a destination of choice across the catchment.

Tom Johnson, partner of international law firm Pinsent Masons who advised the LABV said: “Having advised Aylesbury Vale District Council on the establishment of Aylesbury Vale Estates in 2009, the UK's first true 50/50 public/private local asset backed vehicle, we were pleased to be able to support the joint venture on the acquisition of the Hale Leys shopping centre. The centre will be key to the longer term retail offering in the town and this acquisition is a unique and innovative collaboration between the Council and its private sector partner - a first for a LABV such as this.”

AVE principal Graham Cole said: “Aylesbury has a large and affluent catchment population, but currently suffers from significant leakage to other centres in the area. There is a real opportunity to improve it’s position in the sub-regional hierarchy, with a strategy designed to bind the town centre together linking the existing retail core with AVDC’s the new hotel and Waitrose scheme, which is currently underway, and the new theatre which AVDC has also delivered.”

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Ptarmigan Networks has relocated to a fully refurbished 3,189 sq ft property at Glasgow North Trading Estate in Maryhill. Jones Lang LaSalle, acting jointly with James Barr, on behalf of Alliance Property Asset Management, has let the premises to Ptarmigan Networks on a five year lease at a headline rental of £12,000 per annum. The new tenants offer bespoke structured cabling solutions and connectivity management, and are relocating from Rosemount Workspace in Charles Street.

Glasgow North Trading Estate comprises 20 industrial multi-let units in total, and offers tenants a fully secure industrial working environment in close proximity to Glasgow City Centre. The estate benefits from generous car parking, HGV circulation areas, CCTV surveillance, and a 24-hour manned security gate house. Paul Sweeney, surveyor from Jones Lang LaSalle, commented: “This letting signals good news for Glasgow North Trading Estate, which is an established and popular industrial estate just north of Glasgow city centre. The estate is home to a wide range of local and national companies, and can accommodate businesses seeking industrial accommodation from 1,091 sq ft up to 20,000 sq ft with competitive terms on offer.”

Brian Smith, from Ptarmigan Networks, said: “We have more than 60 years combined network cabling experience operating in a range of environments from banks, 24–hour call centres to sports stadiums, listed buildings and 24-hour retail chains. “The new premises at Glasgow North Trading Estate will provide a high quality and secure base for our business, and enable us to benefit from strong transport links with the M8 motorway and Glasgow City Centre.” For further information on Glasgow North Trading Estate, please contact either of the joint letting agents at Jones Lang LaSalle or James Barr in Glasgow.

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Accor has announced the opening of its first Pullman branded hotel in the UK, the Pullman London St Pancras.

Accor is establishing this international upscale brand in the UK in a move to widen its hotel brand portfolio in the UK, which currently includes Sofitel, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget. Pullman London St Pancras, previously home to Accor’s Novotel brand, officially opens this month (September) following a comprehensive refurbishment which has seen the complete transformation of the hotel into one of London’s most contemporary and stylish hotels.

Entering the market as London’s newest upscale hotel brand, the UK’s first Pullman hotel is a cosmopolitan home of style and modernity. Situated just three minutes from King’s Cross St Pancras, the hotel features 312 bedrooms, with panoramic views of the London skyline, and a restaurant and bar named Golden Arrow. There are also 17 spaces for events and business meetings, including a 446-seat tiered theatre for arts and corporate use.The hotel offers Pullman’s best signature services: Welcomer, Pullman bed, docking station, free Wi-Fi, Connectivity Loungein partnership with Microsoft®, Co-Meeting offerfor the MICE market,Nespresso®services, Vinoteca by Pullman wine selectionandOpen Kitchenin the new restaurant, Golden Arrow.

Christophe Vanswieten, COO Pullman Europe, said: “I’m delighted to announce that we are opening our first Pullman Hotel in the UK, a market that will play a key role in our expansion plans in the coming years. Pullman has global brand awareness in progress, which we will build on in the UK, helping to grow Accor’s presence in the UK’s upscale market, ensuring that we have a hotel brand to suit any individual’s requirements –from budget, to luxury”.

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Prologis has announced that it has acquired 32 acres of industrial development land at Boscombe Road, Dunstable from ICP Asset Management. The transaction is an important step towards Prologis’ goal of providing the best customer opportunities in London and the South East and it marks Prologis’ first land acquisition in the South East of England since 2007.

The new site, which is close to the existing Prologis Park Dunstable, already has planning consent for a 755,000 sq ft. However, in line with market demand on the southern M1 corridor, Prologis will shortly be submitting a new planning application to Central Bedfordshire Council for two distribution units of 300,000 sq ft and 360,000 sq ft respectively. Both buildings, which may be built speculatively, have been designed to achieve BREEAM 2011 ‘very good’ accreditation and the best EPC rating possible for their size.

“This transaction is excellent news for the market and for Dunstable,” said Andrew Griffiths, managing director, Prologis UK. “We continue to invest in strategic locations with the aim of offering our customers the best range of distribution opportunities in the UK market. There is a shortage of new facilities in this size range in the South East market and we are pleased to have secured a deliverable site on the M1 corridor, which we anticipate will be of great interest to our customer base. We will make a decision on speculative development once the revised planning application has been approved. Our decision will also be subject to ongoing pre-let discussions.

“Prologis Park Dunstable has proved to be a great success bringing many new employment opportunities to the town and we would expect this new development could bring around 700 further jobs to the community.” As of June 30, 2012, Prologis had approximately 18 million sq ft completed and under development in the UK, as well as 1,075 acres of land available for future development.

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Legal & General Property has unveiled its proposals for the refurbishment of St George’s House, Park Lane in East Croydon, releasing the first images of plans for a high quality, residential scheme and an enhanced public realm in Croydon town centre.

The proposed refurbishment would change the current use of St George’s House from predominantly office floor space to residential use, with community and retail uses at ground level and gardens at roof top level for residents. It is expected to include approximately 288 new homes providing a range of unit sizes and tenure types. Space will be made available at ground floor level of the block fronting Park Street for a range of retail and community uses. LGP’s acquisition of St George’s House forms part of a suite of deals that the Company negotiated on behalf of its UK Property Income Fund at the end of last year, enabling Nestlé’s smooth transition to new Grade A office Headquarters at 1 City Place in Gatwick. Completed in quick succession of each other, these deals included the purchase of 1 City Place from RREEF for £ 39 million, the surrender of BT’s lease on the property and simultaneous agreement of a new 20-year lease with Nestlé.

The new scheme is designed to add interest and variety to the Croydon skyline by introducing a ‘stepping’ effect to vary the height of the tower blocks. In addition, a range of architectural treatments are being considered to ‘soften’ the aesthetic appearance of the building. The refurbishment would aim to rejuvenate the building, providing a sophisticated living and retail space in a key location for commuters, families and young professionals. The proposals have been developed to complement and enhance the existing qualities of the Borough and will contribute to the regeneration of East Croydon, making it a desirable residential location.

Charlie Walker, Fund Manager at Legal & General Property, comments: ”Whilst Nestle is in the final stages of its occupation of the building, we have certainly been busy since the start of the year, creating a new chapter for St Georges House. Through these carefully designed plans, we aim to give this building a new lease of life, supporting the mid-Croydon masterplan and playing our part in bringing about the wider regeneration of Croydon town centre.”

Simon Wilkes, Head of business space development at Legal & General Property, adds: “The proposals for St George’s House are designed to bring much needed high quality residential accommodation to the centre of Croydon. The investment will also see a significant improvement in the public realm to create a more accessible and attractive civic space for residents and visitors to enjoy. This is an important step forward for Croydon and one which will significantly benefit the wider regeneration of the Borough.”

A public exhibition is being held in the foyer at Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, today and tomorrow (14-15 September) to give local residents and businesses the opportunity to comment on the proposals for St George’s House. Subject to the public consultation process and further discussions with the Council, a planning application is expected to be submitted in October this year. EPR Architects and landscape architect, Charles Funke, have been appointed to draw up plans for the scheme, and CBRE is the advising agent.

The UK PIF reached its final close in October 2011, having secured commitments totalling £300 million from 14 major international institutional investors based in the Middle East, Denmark, UK, France, Finland, Switzerland and Japan. The closed ended fund has an innovative structure which allows investors to choose their preferred level of gearing of between 0% and 50% Loan to Value (LTV), thereby offering a unique solution to accommodate a range of risk appetites. The Fund aims to provide investors with returns of 15% (geared) and 10% (ungeared) through careful stock selection of large lot size assets which will be positioned to capitalise on the economic recovery in the UK based on a core/core-plus risk strategy.

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The cost of buying a home in Scotland is now over 7% lower than renting, according to research by Bank of Scotland. The average monthly costs associated with buying1 a three bedroom house stood at £505 in June 2012; 7.4% (or £40) lower than the typical monthly rent of £545 paid on the same property type. In 2011, the monthly cost associated with home buying was just 0.5% (£3) lower than renting. Over the past year, buying costs have dropped by 6%, while the cost of renting has increased by 1%.

Scotland is the fifth most affordable area in the UK for buying relative to renting
In June 2012, buying a house was more affordable than renting in all 12 UK regions. In contrast, buying was more expensive than renting in all regions in June 2008. Scotland is the fifth most affordable location in the UK for buying compared to renting in percentage terms. Overall, buying is most affordable compared to renting in London with the typical homebuyer paying 14% (£177) a month less than the average renter (£1,108 against £1,284). The disparity between buying and renting costs is smallest in the East Midlands with average monthly buying costs (£497) 2% lower than average monthly rental costs (£505).

Homebuyers see costs fall 45% in four years…
In 2008 average home buying costs, at £911, were 62% (or £350) more than the average monthly rent paid of £561. The substantial improvement in the affordability of buying relative to renting largely reflects a 45% drop in home buying costs since 2008; caused by a marked fall in both house prices and mortgage rates. The average mortgage rate for a new borrower2 has declined by more than two percentage points over the last four years, from an average of 5.91% in June 2008 to 3.82% in June 2012. Over the same period, the typical Scottish house price3 has decreased by almost a fifth (18%). The typical rent paid has risen by 1.3% since 2010.

…but the number of buyers entering the housing market remains weak…
Despite the improvement in affordability, the number of buyers5 in the Scottish housing market has nearly halved over the last four years. There were 46,200 buyers (with a mortgage) in the twelve months to June 2012; 46% lower than during the same period in 2008 (86,200).

…driven by the economic uncertainty and the size of the average deposit required
In the recent Bank of Scotland housing confidence survey6 nearly two-thirds of respondents (61%) highlighted concerns about job security as the main barrier to buying a home. Respondents also picked out the challenges in raising a deposit (52%) as a major hurdle to home buying. Home buyers - both first-time buyers and homemovers - put down an average deposit of £28,354 in June 2012, equivalent to a quarter (25%) of the property price. The average deposit required has risen four-fold (by £21,717) over the past decade from £6,637 in June 2002.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Bank of Scotland, commented: "It is clearly encouraging that there has been a significant decline in the cost of buying a home for those able to enter the Scottish housing market since 2008. The improvement is due to a combination of lower mortgage rates and declining house prices. In contrast, market conditions for renters have deteriorated slightly as rents have risen in the past two years.

“Despite the improvement in buyer affordability, housing market conditions in Scotland remain difficult. Those getting on the housing ladder still face challenges, most notably in getting a deposit, and this challenge, along with the considerable uncertainty regarding the economic outlook, is still contributing to subdued housing demand. However, it is worth noting that once homebuyers are on the housing ladder, their monthly costs are notably lower.”

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Land Securities Group PLC and Canary Wharf Group plc have exchanged contracts on the second pre-let at 20 Fenchurch Street, EC3, bringing the office space to 19% pre-let, with a further 5% in solicitors’ hands.

Kiln Group Limited, the international specialist insurance and reinsurance underwriting group, has taken 78,000 sq ft. This letting follows insurer Markel International’s decision in June to take 51,000 sq ft on levels 26 and 27 at 20 Fenchurch Street as its new London headquarters. When complete, the 525ft tall, 690,000 sq ft building will offer 37 storeys of top-quality, efficient and flexible office space to a supply-constrained London market. The building’s design spectacularly flares outwards from a narrow base, uniquely offering larger floorplates and spectacular 360 degree views higher up the building.

Colette O’Shea, Head of Development at Land Securities said: “This is good progress for 20 Fenchurch Street approximately 20 months before completion, and further testament to the building’s attractive, intelligent and efficient design.” Richard Archer, Head of Leasing at Canary Wharf Group added: ”20 Fenchurch Street is located in the heart of the City’s vibrant insurance sector. We are very pleased to have secured another top-quality insurance sector tenant well ahead of completion. Construction is progressing nicely and we look forward to delivering 20 Fenchurch Street on time and within budget in early 2014.”

Newton Perkins advised Kiln; Knight Frank and CBRE advised Canary Wharf Group and Land Securities.

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Canary Wharf Group plc has appointed architecture firm Terry Farrell and Partners (Farrells) to create a new masterplan for Wood Wharf, one of central London’s largest and most prestigious future development sites.

The Group is revising the masterplan for the Wood Wharf site to cater for evolving market requirements. The new office, residential and retail development aims to attract a broader mix of future tenants, including growing firms in the creative media, technology and telecommunications sectors, building on the success of adjacent Canary Wharf and the Tech City cluster.

Canary Wharf Group acquired the full rights to develop the site in January this year from previous joint venture partners Canal and River Trust (previously British Waterways) and Ballymore. The 20 acre site, which is immediately east of Canary Wharf, currently has outline planning approval for 4.7m sq. ft. of mixed use office, retail and residential space, about one third of the size of the existing Canary Wharf estate.

The new Wood Wharf masterplan will be designed to improve integration with the surrounding residential community; provide flexible, bespoke office space for the dynamic business growth sectors in London and create unique cultural and retail amenities that will add to the East End’s reputation as the creative heart of London. The design brief will also call for attractive new waterside parks, European style-streets and squares as well as environmentally sustainable buildings. Overall density is likely to be similar to the currently consented masterplan, with an increased proportion of residential space, catering for increased demand for people to live close to their workplace.

Ahead of development, the Group is looking at a range of temporary uses for Wood Wharf and has already installed temporary waterside parks and landscaping. These could include work space for start up companies, pop-up restaurants and cafés, street markets and performance spaces. The site hosted several of the world’s largest super yachts during the London 2012 games, which attracted thousands of visitors.

Sir George Iacobescu CBE, Chairman and Chief Executive of Canary Wharf Group plc said: “We are very pleased to welcome Terry Farrell and Partners on to the team to develop the design for Wood Wharf. The successful development of this site will be another massive piece added to the East End’s regeneration jigsaw. We can help London’s digital economy continue to thrive by providing growing businesses with bespoke office space and amenities, in close proximity to excellent transport, talent, clients and capital. The development of Wood Wharf will enhance London’s reputation as a business, lifestyle and cultural capital and further shift the City’s centre of gravity eastwards.”

Sir Terry Farrell CBE, Principal of Farrells said: “With the huge success of the Olympics and the rapidly expanding Tech City, this part of London is now much more than a global financial centre. What has emerged is an exciting cultural and lifestyle district that is attracting the world’s creative and technology companies. Wood Wharf is a rare opportunity to create a new and vibrant mixed use place that responds to its context and draws on other successful parts of this great metropolis.”

Farrells were appointed following an international competition in early 2012. Additional architects for individual buildings will be appointed in due course, as the masterplan progresses. Consultation for the new masterplan will begin in autumn 2012, with an application for a new outline planning permission expected to be submitted in spring 2013. It is expected the scheme will be developed in phases over 10-12 years with the first phase commencing in 2014. It is anticipated that part of the development will be open in time for Crossrail trains running through Canary Wharf from 2018.

In July 2012, Canary Wharf Group appointed Eric Van Der Kleij, Chief Executive of Tech City Investment Organisation, as a specialist advisor to help connect London’s burgeoning technology scene with the established professional and financial services cluster at Canary Wharf. The district is already an important part of the Tech City cluster, with over 1 million square feet of occupiers in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors, including Thomson Reuters, Infosys and McGraw-Hill Companies. The working population of Canary Wharf passed 100,000 for the first time in summer 2012.

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Hearthstone Investments, the specialist residential property fund manager, has secured a second seed investment for the newly launched TM Hearthstone UK Residential Property Fund, attracting up to £15 million in backing from Bovis Homes. An initial transaction of 30 properties, amounting to around half the total deal value, will be invested into the fund immediately.

The transaction, which follows a £22.5 million deal with Barratt Developments announced in July, will see Bovis Homes contributing some of its showhome stock into the fund. These will then be licenced back, providing the fund with immediate income from a diverse portfolio of assets. Eventually the properties will be let to private tenants or sold once the development site completes.

The deals with Barratt Developments and Bovis Homes form part of a staged set of seeding arrangements with housebuilders and developers which are expected to reach a total of around £50 million. The TM Hearthstone UK Residential Property Fund was soft launched last month and will be rolled out fully by the end of September 2012. It is the UK’s first FSA authorised residential property fund and is eligible for tax efficient wrappers such as ISAs and SIPPs. The fund will be available within standard investment platforms to both private and institutional investors.

Commenting on the latest seed funding deal, Christopher Down, founder and Chief Executive of Hearthstone, said: “I am very pleased to announce a further £15 million of seeding so soon after our inaugural transaction. This deal underlines the potential for Hearthstone’s unique residential PAIF, which provides investors with a more liquid and tax efficient way of investing in residential property. The addition of Bovis Homes properties to the fund adds further diversification and income, and will increase confidence among investors. By assembling a portfolio of good quality properties from the beginning, we are able to look forward to launching the fund formally later this month with the benefit of existing scale.”

“The overall launch of this fund is an important milestone in our strategy to change the way the UK invests in residential property and provide a genuine alternative to existing commercial property funds. It is widely acknowledged that the UK needs significant new investment in housing, but this can only be achieved with investment vehicles that suit the needs of mainstream investors. The growth of professionally managed, onshore, regulated funds like ours is a vital step in connecting this capital to residential investment opportunities.”

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Henderson Global Investors, on behalf of its c. £12.3 billion property business has acquired Morley Court in Peterborough. The c. 135,000 sq ft asset was acquired from Highcross for c. £4.5 million which represents an equivalent yield of 11.5%. The property is a substantially refurbished, mixed use scheme which has Coca Cola Enterprises Ltd as its principal tenant (42% of income). Other tenants include Transworld E_Logistics Ltd, Chiltern Cold Storage and Paintshield Ltd. It is prominently positioned within an established industrial location in out of town Peterborough. GVA advised Henderson on the acquisition. The seller was represented by Strutt and Parker.

Cameron Fraser, Director at Henderson Property, commented: “This presented an excellent opportunity to acquire a well situated asset, with a strong collection of tenants delivering a secure income stream at a very sensible price. We believe the asset is well placed to deliver above index returns over the short to medium term with additional alpha available through a number of asset management opportunities with the existing tenants.”

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British Land has published a report detailing the substantial socio-economic impact of its development programme both at a national and regional level contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy and creating 32,300 jobs through its construction projects.

The report, Building Business, Creating Growth, based on work undertaken by PwC for British Land, analyses the impact the company’s £2.1bn development programme is having on communities throughout the UK, covering the period from 2011 to 2015. For every £1 million British Land spends on construction it generates an estimated 31 jobs.

While much of the construction takes place in central London and many of the jobs are naturally on the construction sites themselves, between 2011 and 2015 British Land’s off-site construction expenditure will have supported an estimated 4,300 jobs across the UK outside London and contributed £186 million to the UK economy.

British Land’s £80 million expenditure on steelwork will create 1490 jobs in Northern England and Northern Ireland while £59 million spent on mechanical and electrical services will create 650 posts in the South-East, Midlands and London.

The benefits of British Land’s construction programme are spread throughout the UK. The construction expenditure is estimated to generate the greatest economic contributions in London, the South-east, and Yorkshire and Humberside. Of the total construction sector’s gross value added in those regions, the contributions represent around 2.1%, 0.4% and 0.6% respectively.

Once completed, British Land’s new buildings will be home to a wide range of businesses, including UBS, Aon and Debenhams, as well as providing retail space to brands such as M&S, Next, Boots and H&M. The activities of the occupiers of British Land’s buildings will also contribute £1.1 billion annually to the UK economy.

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land said: “There is much debate about how we might rebalance the UK economy and ensure all regions benefit from economic growth more equally. This report highlights how British Land and our partners are investing in the UK economy and communities around the UK through our £2.1 billion development programme. Whether it’s steel from the North West that is being used at The Leadenhall Building, or concrete from Yorkshire used at 5 Broadgate, our central London construction projects are the driving force behind the stability and growth of hundreds of businesses across the country.”

Bill Boler, Director, Physical Regeneration, Business in the Community, said: “Business in the Community welcomes British Land’s work to articulate its socio-economic contribution to UK communities and is committed to helping business improve its positive impact on society through the Community Footprint programme. There is a real need for understanding of how social value and financial return can co-exist, and indeed, be maximised.”

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LaSalle Investment Management and Curtis Real Estate have let Unit 6 at White Hart Works in Tottenham to Screwfix Direct Limited. Screwfix, the building trade supplier, has agreed to lease the 10,058 square feet unit on a ten year lease. LaSalle acquired the former Bridisco site, which was renamed White Hart Works, in early 2011 and in a joint venture with CRE has undertaken the first speculative development in Tottenham for many years. The 132,000 square foot industrial and trade park is due for completion shortly.

LaSalle and CRE have already secured a deal with trade-only builders merchant, Selco Trade Centres Limited, which will occupy 39,047 square feet on the park. As a result of the deal with Screwfix, White Hart Works is now 40% let with four units remaining ranging from 11,477 square feet to a maximum of 51,930 square feet.

Strutt & Parker advised Curtis Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Management; Screwfix was represented by Colliers International.

Lucy O’Donnell at Screwfix, said: “We are delighted to have taken the most prominent unit on this new development, further strengthening our network of branches within Greater London. We are confident this will prove to be a strong trading location.”

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Wincanton, advised by Savills and Cushman and Wakefield, has sold the Ocean Trading Estate at Trafford Park in Manchester to Legal & General Property, and sublet space at the RD Park in Hoddesdon in Essex to Poundland Limited. At Trafford Park, Legal & General Property has agreed a price of £3.6 million for the site totalling 7.68 acres with internal warehousing space of 123,142 sq ft (11,440 m²).

In Hoddesdon, Wincanton has agreed a sub-let to Poundland at Unit A, RD Park, which comprises 217,833 sq ft (20,237 m²) of extensively fitted-out frozen, chilled and ambient distribution space, on a lease expiring in December 2015. The unit benefits from a prime location close to the A10 and M25. Poundland Limited was represented by BNP Paribas Real Estate. Legal and General was advised by Moriarty & Co..

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Demand for office space in Warsaw remained strong during H1 2012, but a notable increase in development activity has led to rising vacancy rates, according to Knight Frank’s newly released Warsaw Office Market Report.

Office take-up was recorded at 298,000 sq m in H1, 18% up on H2 2011. This puts the market on course to reach an annual take-up total similar to 2011’s record high of 573,000 sq m. The strength of tenant demand was underlined by the conclusion of several large pre-let transactions in H1, the most notable of which was T-Mobile’s agreement to lease 27,000 sq m at Marynarska 12.

Development activity has increased significantly, with around 570,000 sq m of office space under construction at the mid-year point. Of the space currently in the pipeline, around 425,000 sq m is expected to be delivered over the next 18 months, which will add significantly to Warsaw’s current office stock of just over 3 million sq m.

As a result of increased development completions, the office vacancy rate rose to 9.3% during H1, from 8.3% at the end of 2011. Office rents remained broadly unchanged throughout H1, with the rising supply limiting the potential for rental growth.

The investment market slowed slightly in H1, with €856 million invested in Polish commercial property, following a strong performance in 2011, when over €2.5 billion was transacted. There was a lack of large-scale office transactions in H1 but, nonetheless, investor sentiment remains positive and international investors have continued to be attracted by the country’s relatively positive economic outlook.

Matthew Colbourne, senior international research analyst, commented “The rise in development activity is likely to have a significant impact on the market over the next 18 months. Although we expect prime headline rents to remain stable in the short-term, there are signs that the developers of new office space are having to become more flexible on incentives in order to secure tenants, and as a result we may see net effective rents fall in the coming quarters.”

Jakub Jonkisz, head of capital markets, commented “While office investment volumes were down in H1 2012 compared with 2011 levels, Poland continues to attract strong interest from international investors. Several large office sales have already been agreed in Warsaw during Q3, and Polish investment volumes for the year as a whole may yet reach a similar level to 2012’s total of €2.5 billion.”

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Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed property manager of the first phase of Green Horizon office complex, being developed by the developer of green office buildings Skanska Property Poland.

Green Horizon is a Grade A office complex being constructed according to sustainable standards. Located at 107 Pomorska Street in Łódź, in close proximity to Solidarności roundabout, it will provide a total of 33,000 sq m of leasable area (a 19,000 sq m building A and a 14,000 sq m building B). The delivery of the first phase of the project (building A) is scheduled for Q4 2012. The seven-storey complex will accommodate a two-level underground car park for 395 car spaces with a separate bicycle parking area.

The office building has been designed by Medusa Group according to sustainable principles. The general constructor is Skanska S.A. In 2011 Green Horizon was awarded the LEED Gold pre-certificate and GreenBuilding certificate. The new technologies applied will reduce energy and water consumption. The building will feature energy efficient heating, air conditioning and lighting systems, with the use of low-emitting materials.

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Jones Lang LaSalle has been appointed property manager for the modern Green Corner office complex. The investment located on Chłodna Street in Warsaw is being developed by Skanska. Jones Lang LaSalle will begin managing the building as soon as October 2012.

Green Corner is an eight - storey, A - class office complex. Its construction began in February 2011, and it is scheduled to be commissioned for use in Q4 2012. While initially 14,000 sq m GLA will be available, the complex will eventually offer 25,000 sq m of modern office space in two buildings. The building features raised floors, which ensure the flexibility of office space arrangements, suspended ceilings with an integrated lighting system, as well as a chilled beams air - conditioning system. A two-storey underground garage will accommodate 265 cars and 40 bicycles.

Green Corner is the first office project in Warsaw registered under the LEED Green Building Rating System and is seeking the highest, Platinum Certification. Modern solutions used in this project raise the tenants’ comfort levels at work while reducing the ecological footprint of the complex. The Modern Building Management System (BMS) will be responsible for optimal energy use within the complex, while the glass facade will guarantee excellent access to daylight. The whole complex will be equipped with energy-efficient lighting, and photovoltaic panels will be used to convert sunlight into electricity.

The building is located at the intersection of Chłodna and Wronia Streets, in close proximity to the crossing of Aleja Solidarności and Okopowa street – one of Warsaw’s major transport hubs. This location guarantees fast connections with other parts of the city, both by car and public transport. In the future, an underground station (Rondo Daszyńskiego) will be located within a ten-minute walk from the building.

Iwona Laszkiewicz, Head of the Property Management Department, Jones Lang LaSalle said: "We are pleased we can expand our property portfolio with a new investment. Green Corner is a unique office complex in the Warsaw commercial real estate market. One of the project's main assets lies in the fact that it is based on sustainability principles. It is a great honour for Jones Lang LaSalle to be involved in such a project. All over the world, our company promotes solutions that allow for the maintaining of the balance between business and its environment”.

Arkadiusz Rudzki, Leasing and Asset Management Director, Skanska Property Poland, said: ”We are extremely pleased with the fact that Green Corner will be managed by Jones Lang LaSalle. It is a unique project, not only because of its innovative, energy-efficient solutions, but also the comfortable working environment that it will provide for its tenants. Therefore, we were searching for such a partner as Jones Lang LaSalle, who perfectly understands the project’s assets, as well as the tenants’ needs”.

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Textorial Park - one of the most environment-friendly complexes in Lodz once again proved it has been appreciated by its Tenants. Fujitsu Technology Solutions has chosen Textorial Park as its destination for expansion. Signing Annex to the Lease Agreement The Anchor Tenant has reached the total space of 5 400 sq m.

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Over 170,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. The company has appreciated the potential of Textorial Park since 2009. Textorial Park - A class office complexes in Łódź offers 12 000 sq m of office and retail space, conference facilities, 240 parking places, and lower taxes for the tenants, due to the granted Special Economic Zone status. Business Centre is located adjacent to main communication routes with access to many bus and tram lines. The owner also supports bike communication, that is why 71 bicycle parking places has been created. For Tenants there are comfortable showers and toilets.

Two beautiful and historic parks are adjacent to Textorial Park. Surrounded by greenery and distinctive architecture they create a quiet shelter appreciated by many Tenants, like Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Cardif Services (BNP Paribas Group), Transition Technologies and biotechnology innovative company - Mabion. Textorial Park as the third project in Poland has been gained BREEAM in-Use Certification for ecological performance of the building and management solutions.

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Svante Hagman has been appointed new President of the NCC Construction Sweden business area, succeeding the current President Tomas Carlsson who is leaving NCC to take up the position of CEO of the technology consulting company Sweco on December 1.

Svante Hagman, currently President of the NCC Housing business area, has an Executive MBA and has been employed by NCC since 1987. Svante Hagman will assume the position of President of NCC Construction Sweden on November 1.

When Tomas Carlsson vacates his position on November 1, 2012, he will have been employed by NCC for slightly more than 20 years. He has assumed various roles in the Group and has been the President of the NCC Group's largest business area, NCC Construction Sweden, with annual sales of SEK 25 billion.

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Catella Corporate Finance is strengthening its advisory services offering on the property financing market through the recruitment of two financing specialists, each of whom is bringing with him solid experience of the banking sector. Two persons are also being employed to work within advisory services on the property transactions market in Stockholm. Jens Anderson and Oscar Engellau are joining the existing financing advisory team in Stockholm.

Jens Andersson, a graduate in business administration from Linköping University, possesses solid experience of the credit market thanks to nine years at Aareal Bank in Stockholm; his previous places of work also include SEB and GE Capital. Jens specialises in property financing and the raising of capital on the Nordic market; his most recent position was as CFO and Credit Manager at the Swedish mezzanine finance firm Vanir Asset Management.

Oscar Engellau, a graduate in business administration from the Stockholm School of Economics, was recently recruited from Barclays Capital in London. During his six years in the UK, he has acquired solid international experience of Debt & Equity Capital Markets, Hybrid Capital and M&As. Oscar has also worked at Deutsche Bank’s investment banking department in London.

Christian Uddland and Beata Jacobsson have also been recruited to the property transactions team in Stockholm.

Christian Uddland, a graduate in engineering from the Royal College of Technology in Stockholm, most recently worked at Skanska Financial Services. During his four years at Skanska, he worked on property financing and the provision of financial advice for the group, primarily within the Nordic markets. Christian is also chairman of Föreningen Fastighetsekonomerna (the Association of Property Economists).

Beata Jacobsson studied property economics at the Royal College of Technology in Stockholm.

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On 17 September 2012 Eurocommercial sold the 42,178 m² Burlöv Center in Malmö to a consortium led by Grosvenor Fund Management for the December 2011 valuation of SEK 1,158 million. Eurocommercial took the decision to sell Burlöv Center after completing a major extension and refurbishment in 2006 and carrying out further remerchandising over recent years. Some of the proceeds from the sale are being reinvested in the acquisitions of Eurostop in Halmstad in southern Sweden and Les Grands Hommes in Bordeaux. Eurocommercial will report its first quarter 2012/2013 results on 9 November 2012. The sale is due to complete on 15 November 2012.

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Patrizia Immobilien AG established another subsidiary abroad with Patrizia Nordics A/S in Denmark. “Patrizia currently manages real estate assets worth approximately € 7 billion, around a third of which is abroad,” says Wolfgang Egger, CEO of Patrizia Immobilien AG. “With our ne subsidiary in Copenhagen, we have laid another foundation stone on which to expand our involvement abroad. After Stockholm, Copenhagen is the second Patrizia location in the Nordic countries.

Managing Director of Patrizia Nordics A/S is Rikke Lykke (40). She has held management positions in the Nordic real estate markets (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) for over ten years. For example, she was Managing Director of an asset management company and Director of Investments M&A at a real estate firm in Copenhagen. After studying economics, Lykke first worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company in New York and Copenhagen.

Patrizia has so far invested nearly € 300 million in the Nordic markets alone via its funds. “To make the best possible use of the opportunities there, we must have our own employees on the ground. In this way, we are close to the real estate and close to the market,” says Wolfgang Egger. “We are currently setting up a team there, and want to have grown to around ten local employees within the next year.”

However, the Nordic markets are not only attractive for real estate investments, but also for winning over new institutional investors. In the meantime, Patrizia has raised equity there that was invested in residential and commercial real estate in Germany in the order of around € 500 million.

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Logica, now part of CGI Group Inc., a leading provider of information technology and business process services, and ISS, a leading global provider of facility services, announced today they have entered into a new partnership that will see CGI deliver outsourcing services to improve ISS’ IT flexibility and agility.

Logica has been selected by ISS as its IT Infrastructure and Operations partner across the Nordic region to deliver infrastructure and IT service to approximately 45,000 ISS employees across the Nordic countries. This will include the provision of server operations and workstation support.

ISS Denmark has already signed a local service agreement for data centre and workstation services and the other Nordic ISS country organisations (Sweden, Finland and Norway) offer the possibility to further expand the services provided by CGI. ISS and CGI will also begin discussions to assess the development of the partnership and the potential for the delivery of facility management services to CGI’s Nordic business operations.

“Over the last few years ISS has built a true Nordic business platform. This allows the company to offer consistent and integrated facility service solutions to our customers in all the Nordic countries. One common IT sourcing partner in the Nordics will further help us strengthen our offer to customers with opera-tions in the region,” said Troels Bjerg, Regional CEO Nordic & Eastern Europe, ISS.

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MirLand anounces the appointment of Saydam Salaheddin to the Board as a non executive director, with immediate effect. Saydam (41) joins with a long and prominent career in international investment banking. He most recently worked for Renaissance Capital as a Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate based in Moscow. Between 1998 and 2011 he worked for Credit Suisse based in London and Moscow, where he was responsible for Real Estate and Consumer Investment Banking in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey. During this time he advised many listed and unlisted Russian real estate companies and international investors on their business strategies, including MirLand, on its IPO in 2006 and subsequently.

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MirLand announces the successful conclusion of a new non-revolving US$50 million refinancing loan agreement with SberBank of Russia for two of its Moscow office investment assets.

Open Joint Stock Company “Machine-Building & Hydraulics” and Limited Liability Company “Hydromashservice”, both wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company, have entered into the US$50 million loan agreement for a seven year term, at fixed interest of 9.5%, payable quarterly. The Loan refinances the subsidiaries’ existing debt of US$24 million and additional funds will be used for the Company's working capital.

The lLoan is secured by various mortgages, charges, pledges and other customary security interests for the benefit of the Bank and entered into by both the subsidiaries and the Company. The Loan will be repaid within seven years through regular quarterly payments and a final balloon payment of 50% at the end of the term.

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The common assumption about the Moscow hotel market is that there is limited tourism, it is a largely corporate market and that hotels struggle in the summer months. In fact it is a time when most hotels, at least from the upscale segment and down, can supplement occupancy with leisure groups. This is theresult of the latest analysis of Cushman & Wakefield. Certainly it has an impact on average rates but the resulting occupancies more than compensate and in fact hit record highs for the year in many cases.

June is a month with still strong corporate and meeting business with elements of leisure towards the end of the month. July and most of August are far lighter on corporate guests and see international leisure groups and individuals coming to the city.

In line with overall business for the segment, luxury hotels have the lowest occupancies in the city over the summer, indicating still a lack of FIT travelers to Moscow. The June to August occupancy was slightly down on last year and ADR static. New luxury supply on the market could help this trend going forward.



This segment performed only slightly better than the luxury segment, again an indication of a lack of FIT travelers to the city. The ADR for the summer period in this segment was RUR 9,700, a significant 75% higher than the segment below and just 18% below the ADR in the luxury segment. In previous years this segment had been able to hit occupancies in the 70’s at even higher rates during the summer. This is still very much, a result of the global economic climate, with tourists far more careful about personal spend.

This segment features many hotels with large room counts and they generally use the summer period to target groups. The occupancy graph shows an interesting pattern when combined with the ADR bar. The highest occupancy of 77% was back in 2004. The main branded hotels then year by year began to filter out many leisure groups through an increase in rates. These groups did not leave the city, they moved to lower segments and to larger local hotels.

Then, in 2009, the crisis hit hard. The occupancy in 2008 was 65%, and in 2009 it was the same but the difference in ADR was almost 50% less. To try and maintain summer occupancy the hotels had to tempt back the same groups / tour operators that had moved segment when prices had risen 75% from 2004 to 2008.

Today, the summer occupancy is back up to a healthy 75%, the best since 2004, and ADR sits at RUR 5,400, still well below the rates seen pre crisis. All in all though this brings a strong Revpar (the best since 2008) and brings guests into the hotels to spend additional money on additional services.

The almost 80% occupancy for the 3 summer months was almost flat on last year and bettered only in 2004. Taking away the strong month of June, this segment was 80% occupancy also for the months of July and August – highly impressive and far stronger than those segments above (July & August occupancies; lux 61%, Upper up 65%, Upscale 74%). This is more or less peak occupancy for this period and any further increase can only come in rate – but depends very much on the upscale segment being able to drive higher rates – which could become a reality now that their summer occupancies are above 70%.



The midscale segment also posted occupancies for the summer months of 80% and sit 30% below the upper midscale segment in ADR. There is certainly scope for rate increase in this segment given the high occupancy and decent rate gap up to the next segment.

Image: Cushman & Wakefield, Cushman & Wakefield

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Prague office market activity remained healthy in H1 2012, with the rapidly up-and-coming Karlín area becoming an increased focus for demand, according to Knight Frank’s newly released Prague Office Market Report. Office take-up in H1 2012 was recorded at 144,000 sq m, which was 23% down on H1 2011, but 39% above the ten-year average.

The Prague 8 district, which includes the fast-developing Karlín area, took the largest share of office activity in H1, with take-up of c.44,000 sq m. The Prague 5 district also saw strong take-up, boosted by the biggest deal of H1; Vodafone’s pre-lease of more than 16,000 sq m in the City West scheme.

Approximately 76,000 sq m of new office space was delivered to the market in H1, with c.40% of this being in three new projects in Karlín. Despite the significant volume of new completions, the vacancy rate fell during H1, from 11.8% to 11.5%, with most of the new space being already pre-let.

Key development projects, completed H1 2012
District	Project	Developer	Size (sqm)	Status
4	City Green Court	Skanska Property	14,500	Completed Q2
4	Budějovická 3	Pankrác a.s.	10,346	Completed Q1
5	City West A2	Finep	15,200	Completed Q2
5	Palác Křižík II	Cecopra	5,336	Completed Q2
8	River Gardens	HB Reavis	16,918	Completed Q2
8	Rohan	Karimpol	7,549	Completed Q2
8	Keystone	REKG	5,650	Completed Q1

Prime rents were stable at €20-21 per sq m per month during H1, with considerable incentives remaining on offer as landlords compete to attract the best tenants.

Investment volumes in H1 2012 were considerably down on 2011 levels, with only c.€180 million invested in Czech commercial property, after well over €2 billion was invested last year. However, a number of prospective deals are known to be in due diligence and expected to be completed by the end of 2012 and, as a result, a significant uplift in investment volumes is expected in H2.

Matthew Colbourne, senior international research analyst, commented “Occupier demand for prime offices in Prague remains healthy, but with ample amounts of attractive high quality space currently available on the market, the owners of secondary office buildings are finding it increasingly difficult to lease space without offering significant incentives. As a result, net effective rents in secondary buildings may fall by the end of the year, but we expect prime rents to remain stable.”

Stewart Thomson, head of investment and RICS valuation, said “There remains strong demand for prime office assets in Prague, particularly from international investors. However, a lack of available prime product has restricted recent transactional activity, as has the mismatch between the price expectations of vendors and buyers concerning secondary property. Pricing at the prime end of the market is holding firm, but buyers expect significant discounts for any assets which do not meet the increasingly narrow definition of prime that we see in the current marketplace.”

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Union Investment has acquired a company, holding as main asset the K Point property located Rue Edward Steichen on the Kirchberg plateau in Luxembourg. The vendor was AXA Real Estate, on behalf of one of its clients. Union Investment will add the property company to its open-ended UniInstitutional European Real Estate fund. The vendor, AXA Real Estate was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle. Union Investment was advised in the acquisition by CBRE.

K-Point is a core H-shaped building developed in 2008 by the Belgian developer Allfin and consists of 8.169 m² of office space, 1.041 m² of retail space, 655 m² of archive space and 87 parking units. It is built on 5 upper floors and two basement levels.

The building is fully let, the office area being occupied by the law firm Loyens & Loeff while the 4 retail areas are let to different retailers (International insurance group, ING, a hairdresser and a fitness club).

K-Point is located on the Kirchberg Plateau - one of the three core office markets in Luxembourg - which have become increasingly attractive to international investors over recent years.

Since the end of 2011, the strong fundamentals of the Luxembourg real estate market (low vacancy rate, sustained take-up, no speculative development) have increasingly attracted cross-border real estate capital. The economic performance of Luxembourg itself has further increased the attractiveness of the country as a target, in particular for institutional real estate funds and asset managers seeking core sector acquisitions.

Volker Noack, Member of the Management Board of Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, Hamburg: “We have secured an excellent quality office building for our institutional fund given the current attractiveness of Luxembourg and the quality of the asset.. ”

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Corio and Francine Zijlstra have decided to end her employment as per 1 December 2012. A search has been started to find a successor for Mrs. Zijlstra’s position as COO of Corio. Her responsibilities will be taken over by Gerard Groener, CEO (Netherlands and Germany) and Frederic Fontaine,CDO (France, Spain, Italy and Turkey), effective immediately.

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Prologis, Inc. announced that in recent months, they signed a total of 37,702 sq m (405,821 sq ft) of new lease agreements in strategic locations in the Benelux.

New lease agreements
Contracts were signed for the distribution center Maasvlakte DC2 (12,497 sq m). In Bleiswijk, strategically located to the north of Rotterdam, a lease agreement was signed for the last available unit of 7,858 sq m. Furthermore, the contract for Tilburg DC3 was increased with an additional 17,347 sq m. With this transaction, Tilburg DC3 is now fully leased.

Other activity
In addition to the new contracts, several lease agreements were renewed totaling a further 127,374 sq m. For instance in Venlo, where UPS Supply Chain renewed their contract for 20,829 sq m. At main port Schiphol Prologis extended contracts for 21,802 sq m. Amongst others, the extension of Fokker Park DC4A resulting in 10,284 sq m. “We see an increasing demand for logistic real estate in the market”, says Bram Verhoeven, Vice President of Prologis Benelux. “The expectations regarding occupancy in our portfolio are therefore positive.” With a portfolio of 1.2 million sq m distributed over 61 properties, Prologis is one of the leaders in the distribution center market in the Benelux.

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Montea announced a cooperation agreement with The Brussels Airport Company for the development of phase 3 at Brucargo West.

In connection with the development of the distribution centre for DHL Global Forwarding, The Brussels Airport Company and Montea have signed a cooperation agreement to develop logistical airfreight facilities on the adjoining plot of land of approximately 31,000 sq m at Brucargo West. To this end, Montea has signed a (renewable) 50-year building agreement with the airport. As with the DHL project, Montea will be working with the Depaepe Group, which specialises in developing logistics buildings. For the purpose of implementing this project, The Brussels Airport Company will be responsible for completing the Ring Road.

The development of this third plot will also see the completion of the final section of Brucargo West, which will be expanded to create a total of approximately 70,000 sq m of top-quality warehousing and 12,000 sq m of offices. Montea already has a long-term lease agreement in place for part of this land with a company with activities in the medical sector. The deal involves some 6,000 sq m of warehouse space, a 1,700 sq m mezzanine area and 1,900 sq m of offices. The site will serve as the European distribution for this group, with airfreight being used almost exclusively.

Talks with other potential tenants for the remaining 10,000 sq m are well underway. The site’s excellent accessibility by public transport (both by train and bus), Brucargo’s clear-cut security plans, the outstanding working relationship with customs and the growing success of airfreight at Brussels Airport mean that both logistics service-providers and end-users view this final piece of land at the airport as an opportunity to optimise their supply chain.

“Our aim with this transaction is to emphasise the expertise of our Montea CARGO business unit (www.monteacargo.com),” says Peter Demuynck, COO of Montea. “With our professional knowledge and specific experience, we are able to deliver added value in developing logistical facilities at airport locations.”

Griet Cappelle becomes a member of the management team as Chief Development Officer
In the light of the developments already mentioned and others yet to come, Montea recently decided to appoint a Chief Development Officer. Griet Cappelle (34) is a qualified Civil Engineer-Architect and has gained experience over the past 10 years as Head of Project Development with major logistics developers such as ULogis Group and IIG. “With the appointment of Griet Cappelle, we are emphasising the growing importance of new developments customised for our customers as part of Montea’s ambitious growth story,” says Jo De Wolf, CEO of Montea.

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Lucie Bordelais Charneau has joined BNP Paribas Real Estate in the investment management business line reporting to David Aubin. She will be in charge to develop and coordinate international operations for future global clients and more specifically to raise funds in Asia and the Middle East. Ms Bordelais Charneau’s assignment is structured around consulting, asset sourcing and a thorough analysis of the needs and expectations of investors in these countries to negotiate separate account contracts and advise institutional and professional key clients in the real estate sector (sovereign funds, insurance companies and pension funds, etc.) to enable them to invest in real estate in Europe and award asset management to BNP Paribas Real Estate investment management estates.

After graduating from Paris-Dauphine with a DESS in auditing with a concentration in financial markets, Lucie Bordelais Charneau acquired extensive experience both in banking and real estate with a strong international focus.

Ms Bordelais Charneau started off in 1991 at Arthur Andersen where she conducted banking audit assignments before moving to Deutsche Bank in Paris in 1995 as Business Area Controller assisting heads of Corporate and Investment banking and structured finance divisions.

Her real estate career began in 1998 at Archon Group France (Asset Manager for Goldman Sachs funds) as senior portfolio manager with the task of optimising the profitability of managed portfolios and the responsibility for relations with investors and lenders. In 2001, Ms Bordelais Charneau began to make a major contribution to the launch of the German platform, AGD (Archon Group Deutschland).

In 2004, she joined the real estate acquisition team at General Electric Real Estate based in Paris before moving at the end of 2005 to Société Générale as Director of structured real estate financing in SGCIB Real Estate and Lodging (SGCIB-REL) in Paris and London where she completed about €1 billion of structured credit lines. In March 2009, Ms Bordelais Charneau was appointed Senior Banker in the coverage department at SGCIB-REL to promote investment banking products and services to the Key Strategic Real Estate accounts with a specific transversal focus on major clients in the logistics sector.

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pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Caisse d’Epargne Nord France Europe (CENFE) have partly financed the acquisition of a French retail portfolio by OPCI PREIM Retail 1, managed by Primonial REIM. The loan amounts to € 56.6 million. pbb acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and is the Security and Facility Agent. Caisse d’Epargne Nord France Europe acted as Arranger. The transaction closed on 2 August 2012. The acquired portfolio, from Mercialys, consists of 10 shopping galleries totalling 64,080 m² of retail space. The properties are spread across France. The assets are let to 213 tenants, including anchor tenants such as Casino Restauration, Brico Dépot and Feu Vert.

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Further to the announcement of 2 July 2012 [we reported], Segro announced that it has now completed the acquisition of a portfolio of eight prime French logistics assets for €160.8 million (£129.7 million) from Foncière Europe Logistique, a subsidiary of Foncière des Régions.

The portfolio comprises 13 buildings, which are 10 years old on average, totalling approximately 255,000 sq m of lettable space and currently generating €14.2 million (£11.5 million) of annualised rental income.

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A transaction volume of more than €675 million in Europe recorded by BNP Paribas Real Estate for its Investment Management activity in the first six months of 2012 for managed funds (56%) and third-party asset management (44%). Sectors concern office real estate (€401 M, 59% of the total), retail (€122 M, 18%), health (€109 M, 16%) and residential (€43 M, 6% of the total). Total investments by BNP Paribas Real Estate since 1 January 2012 stand at €617.8 million in four countries, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy.

During the first half of 2012, BNP Paribas REIM sold €57.9 million in France and Italy. David Aubin, who is the head of the international Investment Management business line at BNP Paribas Real Estate and Karl Delattre, CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Solutions and Asset Partner explain: „the first half of 2012 was marked by a high level of activity in all countries; we are especially happy to have tied up our first investment in Germany and to have stayed the course in terms of the breakdown of our business between regulated funds and third-party asset management, for mandates or club deals for institutional clients. We would also point out that while two-thirds of acquisitions were concentrated in core strategies, more than one-third in Italy and France were for value-added products“.

Focus on the French market:
BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management France records a transaction volume for managed funds of €308.07 million in H1 2012 The transaction volume for managed funds recorded by the management company, BNP Paribas REIM France*, grew strongly to in excess of €308.07 million in the first half of 2012 from €246.55 million in the same period in 2011.

Investments:
BNP Paribas REIM France invested some €298.98 million on behalf of regulated funds since 1 January 2012. Corporate real estate: 22 assets were purchased for a total of €268.98 million (commission and fees included) on behalf of managed funds; in addition to acquisitions for yield REITs, particularly in Arcueil and Fontenay sous Bois, BNP Paribas REIM France concluded its first acquisitions of health-care institutions on behalf of the HPF1 real-estate mutual fund (OPCI), and actively continued acquisitions of shopping arcades and business parks for the SPF1 real-estate mutual fund (OPCI). Acquisitions of five office and retail assets are committed for a total of €88.53 million.

Residential property: the Pierre Avenir 2 fiscal REIT has completed its investment programme with the acquisition of 61 apartments in three developments in Rennes, Persan and Palaiseau. The Pierre Avenir 3 REIT has acquired 80 apartments in five developments; reservation contracts have been signed for 39 apartments in two developments. The acquisitions programme under way since the start of the year and amounting to some €30 million has bolstered the positioning of the residential units managed by BNP Paribas REIM France in the Paris region.

Arbitrage: The first half of 2012 saw BNP Paribas REIM France sell property worth €9.1 million, including €7.52 million in corporate real estate realised through the sale of seven assets. Four sale commitments were signed valued at €24 million.

Residential: 10 apartments were sold for an overall total of €1.59 M. According to Jacqueline Faisant, Chairperson of BNP Paribas REIM France, „the volume recorded reflects dynamic sourcing, with for France: €11 billion in corporate real estate and almost €1 billion in residential property; the teams at BNP Paribas REIM France have successfully implemented our policy of extending our reach to the health-care sector, acquiring two portfolios comprising nine nursing homes (EHPAD) and three clinics. We intend to continue our acquisitions policy in the latter half of the year with a similar objective, especially in the health-care sector.“

*portfolio management companied authorised by the French financial markets authority, the AMF

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Klépierre announces the appointment of Jean-Marc Jestin as a new member of the Executive Board of the Group. Jean-Marc Jestin will act as Chief Operating Officer for Klépierre. His appointment will be effective as of October 29th, 2012.

Jean-Marc Jestin, 44, gratuated from HEC and started his career in 1991 at Arthur Andersen in an Audit function where he contributed to the development of the Real Estate Practice. In 1999, he became CFO and then COO of the pan-European platform Simon Ivanhoe, a joint venture between Simon Property Group and Ivanhoé Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of CDPQ. In 2007, he changed to Unibail Rodamco International team, acting as Deputy Chief Investment Officer in charge of acquisitions, sales and M&A transactions. Prior to joining Klépierre, he had been appointed since 2011, Chief Executive for the Office Properties of Unibail Rodamco.

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Further to the issuance of 64,577,483 new ordinary shares registered by Orco Property Group S.A. on 3 September 2012, the total number of shares comprising the share capital of OPG as well as the total number of voting rights attached thereto is 99,992,889 shares. The number of treasury shares held by OPG and its fully controlled subsidiaries amounts to 1,001,405. This increase in the number of treasury shares is a consequence of the mandatory exchange of approximately 89.9% of the OPG bonds held by OPG and its fully controlled subsidiaries. However, given that 1,001,405 shares are held in treasury, the voting rights attached to these shares are suspended. As such, only 98,991,484 voting rights are exercisable as of 3 September 2012.

In connection with the Issuance, OPG received the following notifications of major shareholding changes:

Kingstown Capital Management LP, acting as manager for and on behalf of Ktown, LP, Kingstown Partners Master Ltd, Kingstown Partners II, LP, and Forum Funds – Absolute Opportunity Fund - Kingstown notified OPG on 5 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Kingstown increased above 10% as a consequence of the Issuance. Kingstown holds 12.71% of the total share capital of OPG (12.84% of the total voting rights). The aggregate number of OPG shares held by Kingstown is 12,710,628.

Alchemy Special Opportunities LLP acting as manager for and on behalf of Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund II L.P. notified OPG on 6 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Alchemy increased above 5% as a consequence of the Issuance. Alchemy further notified OPG on 10 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Alchemy increased above 10% as of 6 September 2012. Alchemy holds 10.69% of the total share capital of OPG (10.80% of the total voting rights). The aggregate number of OPG shares held by Alchemy is 10,686,743.

UBS AG notified OPG on 7 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by UBS AG increased above 5% as a consequence of the Issuance. UBS AG holds 6.84% of the total share capital of OPG (6.91% of the total voting rights) as a consequence of the Issuance. The aggregate number of OPG shares held by UBS AG is 6,839,266.

Morgan Stanley notified OPG on 5 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Morgan Stanley affiliates decreased below 5% as a consequence of the Issuance. Morgan Stanley affiliates hold 3.28% of the total share capital of OPG (3.31% of the total voting rights). The aggregate number of OPG shares held by Morgan Stanley’s affiliates is 3,275,996, with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund V Turtle B.V. holding 2,000,000 shares and Jardenne Corporation S.a r.l. holding 1,275,996 shares.

Maple Leaf Macro Volatility Master Fund notified OPG on 6 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Maple Leaf Macro Volatility Master Fund decreased below 5% as a consequence of the Issuance. Maple Leaf Macro Volatility Master Fund holds 2.48% of the total share capital of OPG (2.51% of the total voting rights). The aggregate number of OPG shares held by Maple Leaf Macro Volatility Master Fund is 2,479,902.

August Finance Fund SPC notified OPG on 6 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by August Finance Fund SPC decreased below 5% as a consequence of the Issuance. August Finance Fund SPC holds 2.31% of the total share capital of OPG (2.34% of the total voting rights) as a consequence of the Issuance. The aggregate number of OPG shares held by August Finance Fund SPC is 2,312,715. - Brennus Fund Limited notified OPG on 5 September 2012 that the number of the voting rights in OPG held by Brennus Fund Limited decreased below 2.5% as a consequence of the Issuance.

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New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) hired Lori Collin to head up its office expansion to be followed by office acquisitions and developments.

Starting with September 3, Lori Collin has joined NEPI’s Management to strengthen its office expertise. Lori’s role is to identify new office acquisition and development opportunities and to deal with local and international real estate agencies in relation to NEPI’s existing office spaces and office developments.
With experience of almost 20 years in real estate field, the last five years of which in Romania, Lori gained her expertise in real estate consultancy in USA, covering sectors such as residential, commercial and investments.

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Following the transaction intermediated by BNP Paribas Real Estate Romania, Amromco Energy SRL rented 570 m² class A office space on the second floor of America House, located in Victoriei Square. The relocation of the Bucharest Office is part of the local strategy of Amromco Energy regarding increasing the number of employees and improving the work environment.

America House is positioned in the central business area of Bucharest, the location being easily accessible both with private and public transportation. The building offers 45,000 m² of class A office and retail space on 9 floors and more than 350 underground parking spaces on 3 underground levels. The lease was signed for a period of 5 years.

Amromco Energy is an exploration and production company with offices in Houston, Texas, Bucharest and Ploiesti, Romania. The company’s core business is the enhancement of existing oil and gas fields in emerging markets such as Romania.

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The Portuguese property investment funds returned an annual total return of 0.9% in June 2012, according to the APFIPP/IPD Portugal Quarterly Property Fund Index. The annual performance of the APFIPP/IPD Index remained in positive territory in the second quarter of 2012, showing a slight improvement compared to the annual return of 0.8% recorded at the end of March 2012.

The overall performance of the Index continues to benefit from the positive behaviour of the open ended funds, which returned an annual total return of 1.6%, while the closed ended funds remained in negative territory, with an annual return of -0.8%. Although positive, the annual performance achieved by the open ended funds contracted by 0.2%, when compared to the returns recorded at the end of the first quarter of 2012, which occurred by the second consecutive quarter. Luis Francisco, IPD Manager for Portugal says: “Despite being negative, the annual total return obtained by the closed ended funds rose by 0.8% from the first quarter of 2012 to the second quarter of 2012, contributing to the improvement of the index’s overall performance.” The APFIPP/IPD Portugal Quarterly Property Fund Index is sponsored by PwC and consists of 35 property funds with Gross Asset Value (GAV) under management of €6,8bn as at the end of the second quarter of 2012. The sample comprises of 12 open ended funds and 23 closed ended funds, valued at a GAV of €4,8bn and €2,0bn, respectively, as at the end of June 2012.

The closed ended funds Imorendimento II (currently known as Imorent) and Imosocial, have been removed from the APFIPP/IPD Portugal Quarterly Property Fund Index sample as they moved into liquidation during the second quarter of 2012. The APFIPP/IPD Portugal Quarterly Property Fund Index, which is still in its consultation period tracks annual performance of Portuguese property investment funds based on international methodology, on a quarterly basis.

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The IPD Italy Biannual Property Fund Index published today recorded a total return of -2.3% in the six months to June 2012, which is the second consecutive negative performance, bringing the annual figure to -4.8%. Although the headline numbers show a slight improvement against the year end results of +30 bps, the Index reported a negative difference of 350 bps compared to the same period last year.

The Index sample has remained unchanged as far as the number of funds is concerned at 39 closed-ended domestic funds, accounting for a total NAV of just below € 8 billion, and a total AUM of € 13.4 billion. These both show a contraction against the previous semester of 4.8% and 3.6% respectively. The number of institutional funds has increased to 17 funds with the inclusion of M DUE, whilst the retail fund Caravaggio has been dropped out of the sample following recent changes in the funds’ governance.

Drilling down into the sub-indices and considering the funds property asset allocation, specialist funds were the worst performers with a six month return of 2.8% (-2.1% in the second half of 2011). Balanced funds on the other hand delivered -1.3%, the best result in this issue of the Index. The sample is also split by investor type, with retail and institutional funds returning -2.0% and -2.6% respectively. By fund type, blind pools achieved a total return of -1.7%, and seeded funds of -2.6%. No category was spared by the plunge in returns, although an inversion of trends seems to have occurred between institutional/seeded/specialist funds, which are historically stronger. Retail/blind pool/balanced funds show poorer performances for most of the Index series.

Italian funds negative returns compare to similar declining trends in most alternative investment options; equities delivered a -2.4% in the first half of 2012 (although the yearly performance was -26.1%), and real estate stocks returned -1.0% (-57.9% June to June). Italian government bonds were the only asset class to fare in positive territory with a strong 10.4% total return. On the whole, the negative performance of the Italian Property Fund Index lies in its capital (NAV growth) component, which drove the overall return with a -3.1% decline, only partly compensated by the distributions component (+0.8%).

Giancarlo Cucini, Senior Analyst at IPD comments: “The results of the Index confirm the trends of the financial markets and the difficult economic and financial context Italy and Europe have been facing for the past few years. We have isolated two main trends in the domestic property funds market, which highlight how Italian fund managers are tackling the situation; firstly most of the funds are undergoing a marked de-leveraging process. Although the debt component has not decreased much as a percentage of the funds GAV, the total debt has shrunk by € 100 million and two funds in the sample are now un-geared. For blind pools and balanced funds, in particular the loan-to-value ratio has decreased by 11% and 9% respectively in the last 6 months. Secondly, there is evidence of some re-pricing as a number of funds prepare for the wind-up phase.”

The Italian Property Fund Index universe consists of 39 funds with a combined net asset value of €7.9 billion. IPD thanks Assogestioni and Deloitte, sponsors of the Index, and all fund constituents for the support provided in the development of this publication.

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Jones Lang LaSalle launches a new report, Redefining Retail Investment, to coincide with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) 2012 Retail Real Estate World Summit, taking place in Shanghai this week.

• Annual investment volumes in retail real estate could hit US-$ 180 bn globally by 2020 due to increasing cross-border activity, showing growth of around 50 percent on the projected volumes for 2012 (US-$ 110-125 bn).
• Retail’s overall contribution to real estate investment is expected to sit at close to 30 percent over the remainder of this decade, an increase from the 24 percent last decade.
• Growth markets are projected to account for around one-quarter of global retail investment by 2020, compared to less than 10 percent today. By contrast, established markets will decline from 83 percent to just above 60 percent.
• China and India top Jones Lang LaSalle’s Retail Real Estate Momentum Index which identifies the top 20 countries with the strongest momentum in retail real estate globally. Russia ranked 9th in this rating, Ukraine is 13th.

The report confirms that in the last decade, more than US-$ 1 trillion of retail real estate has been traded around the world. Global direct investment has averaged more than US-$ 100 bn per year since 2004 and in 2011 annual volumes hit US-$ 122.5 bn. In 2011 cross-border activity accounted for nearly half of all retail investment whilst levels accounted for only one-quarter of all trade in 2004. Cross-border activity will continue to track at around half of all retail investment, boosting annual investment volumes to US-$ 160-180 bn by 2020, representing a 30-50 percent increase on 2011 levels.

Arthur de Haast, Head of International Capital Group, Jones Lang LaSalle said: “The number of investable geographies has expanded globally as growth markets like China, Brazil and Turkey are attracting global investors. Together with an improvement in the quality and availability of retail assets, rising liquidity levels and further progress in real estate transparency, the retail investment sales sector is set for further rapid globalisation.”

Michael Niemira, ICSC Vice President of Research and Chief Economist said: “Many of these growing retail real estate investment opportunities - identified by the Jones Lang LaSalle report - also are being supported by an increasing number of countries adopting real estate investment trust (REIT) investment vehicles. The REIT, which provides transparency and ease of investment, has grown dramatically over the last 40 years with 27 countries already offering such financial regimes and currently another seven -China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam and South Africa - considering future adoption. The ease of access to cross-border and domestic capital and strong consumer fundamentals should provide a solid platform for the growing global retail real estate markets over the next decade.”

There will be a general rebalancing in capital flows towards the Asia Pacific region, due to favourable demographics and the growth of the middle class. By 2020, Asia Pacific is forecasted to account for 26 percent of global retail investment volumes, up from 22 percent currently and from only 11percent in the mid-2000s. The report projects that the Americas will hold onto around 33 percent of volumes between now and 2020, whilst EMEA will take around 41 percent (compared to 45 percent currently).

In light of this trend, institutional capital is seeking greater retail exposure as it taps into favourable global demographics and growing ‘consumer classes’, and is attracted by the sector’s defensive qualities during times of uncertainty. This is witnessed in the growing contribution of retail to total commercial real estate investment, from 19 percent in 2007 to nearly 30 percent in 2011. Retail’s overall contribution to total real estate investment is set to remain at close to 30 percent over the remainder of the decade, as institutions and private investors seek to tap into the growth potential of expanding consumer markets.

The report also introduces the Retail Real Estate Momentum Index, which lists the top 20 countries with the strongest momentum in retail real estate. China and India sit at the top of the list, though South East Asia and Latin American nations also feature well. Russia ranked 9th in this rating, Ukraine is 13th.

Maxim Karbasnikoff, European Director, Head of Retail Department, Jones Lang LaSalle, Russia & CIS, commented: “Russia is one of Europe’s growth markets with an increasing investors’ activity. Retail market in Russia is attracting significant interest from global players, encouraged through ‘signpost’ transactions which are alerting the world to opportunities in this country. Rising disposable incomes, expanding middle class and rising levels of credit penetration are key factors attracting new foreign retailers. Russia and Turkey will be ranked among Europe’s largest in terms of modern shopping centre stock by 2020 and expected to account for 10-15% of Europe’s investment activity by 2020.”

Commenting on the Index, David Hand, Head of Investment for China, Jones Lang LaSalle said: “There is no doubt that China offers an enticing and exciting proposition to investors globally. Not only is it set to become the world’s largest consumer market, but China is projected to be a US-$ 15 bn a year retail real estate investment market by 2020. The investment landscape will become more globalised, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class, rapid urbanisation, strong consumption growth and significant expansion of quality retail infrastructure. It is definitely the one to watch this decade.”

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Jones Lang LaSalle launches a new report, Redefining Retail Investment, to coincide with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) 2012 Retail Real Estate World Summit, taking place in Shanghai this week. The report confirms that in the last decade, more than US$1 trillion of retail real estate has been traded around the world. Global direct investment has averaged more than US$100bn per year since 2004 and in 2011 annual volumes hit US$122.5bn. In 2011 cross-border activity accounted for nearly half of all retail investment whilst levels accounted for only one-quarter of all trade in 2004. Cross-border activity will continue to track at around half of all retail investment, boosting annual investment volumes to US$160-180bn by 2020, representing a 30-50 percent increase on 2011 levels.

Arthur de Haast, Head of International Capital Group, Jones Lang LaSalle said: “The number of investable geographies has expanded globally as growth markets like China, Brazil and Turkey are attracting global investors. Together with an improvement in the quality and availability of retail assets, rising liquidity levels and further progress in real estate transparency, the retail investment sales sector is set for further rapid globalisation.”

Michael Niemira, ICSC Vice President of Research and Chief Economist said: “Many of these growing retail real estate investment opportunities - identified by the Jones Lang LaSalle report - also are being supported by an increasing number of countries adopting real estate investment trust (REIT) investment vehicles. The REIT, which provides transparency and ease of investment, has grown dramatically over the last 40 years with 27 countries already offering such financial regimes and currently another seven -China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam and South Africa - considering future adoption. The ease of access to cross-border and domestic capital and strong consumer fundamentals should provide a solid platform for the growing global retail real estate markets over the next decade.”

There will be a general rebalancing in capital flows towards the Asia Pacific region, due to favourable demographics and the growth of the middle class. By 2020, Asia Pacific is forecasted to account for 26 percent of global retail investment volumes, up from 22 percent currently and from only 11percent in the mid-2000s. The report projects that the Americas will hold onto around 33 percent of volumes between now and 2020, whilst EMEA will take around 41 percent (compared to 45 percent currently).

In light of this trend, institutional capital is seeking greater retail exposure as it taps into favourable global demographics and growing ‘consumer classes’, and is attracted by the sector’s defensive qualities during times of uncertainty. This is witnessed in the growing contribution of retail to total commercial real estate investment, from 19 percent in 2007 to nearly 30 percent in 2011. Retail’s overall contribution to total real estate investment is set to remain at close to 30 percent over the remainder of the decade, as institutions and private investors seek to tap into the growth potential of expanding consumer markets.

The report also introduces the Retail Real Estate Momentum Index, which lists the top 20 countries with the strongest momentum in retail real estate. China and India sit at the top of the list, though South East Asia and Latin American nations also feature well.

Commenting on the Index, David Hand, Head of Investment for China, Jones Lang LaSalle said: “There is no doubt that China offers an enticing and exciting proposition to investors globally. Not only is it set to become the world’s largest consumer market, but China is projected to be a US$15bn a year retail real estate investment market by 2020. The investment landscape will become more globalised, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class, rapid urbanisation, strong consumption growth and significant expansion of quality retail infrastructure. It is definitely the one to watch this decade.”

• Index
• Next