May 2014 Issue

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) is allocating €50m to German real estate investments, and has built up a new real estate team there. “After establishing a track record and a decent deal pipeline, the plan is to start  raising a fund next,” said Guido Lobpreis, head of the new team. The move is part of the […]

Independently owned investment manager Rockspring has increased its number of partners from 12 to 14. Richard Bains and Tom Walsh have been promoted to partner, the first additions to the partnership since Edmund Craston joined the pan-European business in 2009 as managing director. Bains and Walsh were already shareholders and have increased their ownership through […]

With earnings season upon us, it is worth looking at how the equity market is interpreting today’s  economic climate. While equity prices continue to hit record highs, the 10-year treasury rate, now trading at 2.70%, has yet to break the 3.46% 10-year average – or 4.80% if we ignore the past five years. Aside from […]

UK market overview Average secondary market pricing continued to improve across all UK sectors in March, moving closer to net asset value by a further 0.33%, to an average discount to NAV of just 0.43%, writes Ashley Marks. The improvement was driven by the balanced and retail warehousing sectors, as investors seek higher-income-producing funds, which […]

Cushman & Wakefield market commentary With IBRC sales flooding the headlines in Q1 2014, CRE loan sales were at their highest level since the start of structured bank deleveraging. According to C&W Corporate Finance research, closed Q1 deal volumes hit €23.9bn, with a further €5.9bn so far in April. The year-to-date total is €29.8bn, just […]

British Land, Segro and Capco tap debt repricing with new unsecured facilities, writes Alex Catalano

Commercial projects are yet to benefit from a surge in property lending, reports Doug Morris These are frustrating times for commercial developers. UK plc has taken its initial, tentative steps on the path to recovery and occupiers have shown signs of expansion for the first time in years… just at the point when some familiar […]

Senior debt revival has not dented niche mezzanine providers’ business, reports Lauren Parr Mezzanine deals tend to be arranged quietly, so a lack of publicity doesn’t mean they aren’t taking place. Borrowers as well as specialist mezzanine lenders say a perception that the European mezzanine lending market is floundering since the revitalisation of senior lending […]

Reform of annuities will drastically cut one source of funding for property, writes Alex Catalano

Little domestic competition and lots of distress make Italy lenders’ next target, reports Lauren Parr

Investor appetite for non-performing property loans is at an all-time high. For evidence, look no further than the sale by the liquidator of €19bn of IBRC bad bank loans and the speed at which they were auctioned off, says Cushman & Wakefield. Those IBRC sales, of loans on properties in Ireland, the UK and Germany, […]

UK investment firm Hayfin Capital Management has bought €70m of performing loans from Spanish bad bank Sareb. The loans were part of a debt portfolio tied to medium-sized companies, called ‘Klauss’. Hayfin was set up in 2009 by ex-directors of Goldman Sachs Richard Hayden and Tim Flynn. The London-headquartered group, with two staff in Madrid, closed a […]

Over 260 junior market participants and students joined CREFC Europe’s educational sessions at its London conference on 2-3 April. CREFC Europe chief executive Peter Cosmetatos said education was even more important now because there have been less opportunities for people to “learn on the job” in the “lean years” since the financial crisis. He said […]

Major senior lender eyes opportunities for well-priced mezz investment

UK investors spent 65% of their total £5.8bn purchases outside greater London in the first quarter of 2014. The latest figures from The Property Archive show investors bought £11.4bn of property, less than the £15.8bn in Q4 2013, but around the same level as in Q1 2013. Central London investment fell as an overall percentage […]

Property sector is robust enough to shrug off modest bond yield rises, AEW seminar speakers say

CBRELS names German head Nikolaus Choina has been appointed head of CBRE Loan Servicing’s German operations, supporting Clarence Dixon, head of CBRELS, and Piotr Tokarski. Choina, a German national, has worked at US debt investor LNR Germany, the sister company of European loan servicer Hatfield Philips, and at Auction.com. Kalyan steps up at CBRE GI Sabina […]

Another US pension plan is investing in Europa Capital’s fourth pan-European real estate fund. Virginia Retirement System approved a commitment of around €75m, joining other investors such as Los Angeles County Employees and San Diego City Employee, which invested last year. Europa is targeting €750m and has been raising capital  for about two years. Virginia’s allocation […]

Shaftesbury has shifted some of its debt to longer-term, fixed-rate funding, arranging a new £134.75m, 15-year loan with Canada Life Investments. “We’re a long-term business and we wanted to tap into long-term funding, which is at historically low rates,” said Shaftesbury’s finance director Paul Ward. “We’re very pleased with the pricing, which is very competitive.” The […]

Orchard Street Investment Management is investing £150m in long-leased UK property for a new UK pension fund client. Orchard Street partner John Humberstone said the pension fund, which already invests in property, aims to build a portfolio of £10m-£30m assets let on average 15-20-year, inflation-linked leases across sectors. Orchard Street will target a spread over […]

Landesbank fills post vacant since last year in key international market

M&G Investments has provided a €110m senior loan for a Dutch company’s acquisition of a €170m residential portfolio. The loan is backed by 1,250 homes including an Amsterdam apartment complex and assets in Groningen, Heerenveen and Rotterdam, plus several commercial properties. Paul Dittmann, M&G’s head of senior mortgages, said the majority of the loan was […]

Starwood Capital has launched a mandate for £330m of debt to refinance part of its UK hotels portfolio. The US private equity firm has invested around £750m in UK hotels and hospitality assets over the past 12-18 months, with purchases including 23  De Vere Venue hotels in March, backed by £140m of debt from RBS […]

Citigroup is also second-round bidder to refinance Porta Nuova scheme

Blackstone has put out a low- leverage financing mandate for its purchase of Alban Gate on London Wall, EC2. The private equity firm is under offer to buy the 380,000 sq ft office building from Carlyle Group for around £300m, as part of its core-plus strategy. “Gearing won’t be above 60%,” said a banking source. […]

Stephan Ohlmeyer has joined Lone Star as managing director in the firm’s London office. He comes from credit manager Intrum Justitia, where he was director of purchased debt since last June. German-born Ohlmeyer,  who has previously worked on European loan investing at Och-Ziff, Värde and Goldman Sachs, will work with Angus Dodd, who manages UK […]

Bad bank’s planned sale of servicer handling €119bn of former HRE non-performing loans is expected to herald loan sales in Germany and beyond