This Week's Europe Deal Sheet

UK

Savills sold a redevelopment opportunity at Great West Plaza in Brentford, West London TW8 to Quinata Global for £30.3M. The 5.5-acre freehold site on Great West Road comprises 116k SF of purpose-built office accommodation and is permitted with development approval for a 165-unit residential scheme, and potential for a more extensive mixed-use development, subject to the necessary consents. Finn & Co acted for Quinata Global.

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Cranbrook Underwriters relocated its London offices to One Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London EC3R 7AE, in the heart of London’s financial center. This move follows the relocation of two other Kaufman companies, Chesterfield Insurance Brokers and Lochain Patrick Insurance Brokers, to the same building. Kaufman Real Estate Management executed the lease and handled the construction at the new office.

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Dominvs Group snapped up the freehold investment of an office property at 233/237 Old Marylebone Road, London NW1, from a private investor. The property is almost equidistant from Paddington and Marylebone railways stations and the tube stations at Edgware Road, Baker Street and Marble Arch. The seven-storey building offers over 20k SF and is fully occupied until December 2017.  

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Colliers International Group acquired Vision Asset Management Co, one of Europe’s leading hospitality asset management companies. The business will be rebranded as Colliers International and integrated into the existing Hotel Property Services operation, increasing its scale and capabilities throughout the UK. The details of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Sweaty Betty will open its European flagship at Shaftsbury’s 1 Carnaby St. The 2,200 SF corner store is at the South entrance to Carnaby Street and is the result of the brand upscaling from its existing store on Beak Street, where it's been a tenant since 2002. The shop is arranged over ground and basement floors and will offer the full clothing, accessories and equipment collections, as well as housing a studio space for exclusive wellness events, giving a wider customer experience.

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Derwent Group will rebrand its Alban retail park in Warrington following a £9M capital expenditure to upgrade the project. The complex will now be known as JunctionNINE. The refurbishment follows seven new leasing deals from retailers Mothercare, Pets at Home, Dreams and fast food chains Subway, Nandos, KFC and Starbucks. CSP and Petch & Co are joint agents for JunctionNINE. 

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Harworth Group sold 43.7 acres at its flagship Logistics North development in Bolton to Lidl UK as the German supermarket pushes ahead with its UK expansion plans. Lidl UK will work closely with Bolton Council to develop its plans for the site, with a planning application likely to be forthcoming later in 2017. The deal is the sixth at Logistics North in the past three years, following freehold land sales to Aldi, MBDA, Joy Global and Exeter Property Group and Harworth’s forward funding agreement with M&G to build two large commercial units on its behalf.

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Capital & Regional completed the refinancing of its five mall properties by entering into three new debt facilities totaling £372.5M. The company borrowed £165M for 10 years from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association; £107.5M for seven years with Wells Fargo; and £100M for five years from RBS. The £107.5M facility is secured on The Mall, Luton, while the other two are secured on the four assets at Blackburn, Maidstone, Walthamstow and Wood Green. 

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Missguided will launch a 16k SF statement store at Bluewater — the first outside of London and only the second in the UK. The store is due to open summer 2017. In the last 12 months, more than 100k SF at Bluewater has been built or enhanced, including upsized stores for H&M and FatFace and Mint Velvet’s first store in a non-High Street location.

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Lars Huber assumed the role of CEO of Hines Europe. Huber will be based in the firm’s European headquarters in London.

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Katy Rogers joined Colliers International’s EMEA Corporate Solutions team as senior portfolio manager.

France

BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Development sold the new 454k SF Novartis headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison to Korea Investment & Securities. This is the first transaction BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Development has completed with a South Korean investor and the investor’s first transaction in France. Thibierge & Associés public notary and Lacourte Raquin Tatar law firm advised BNP Paribas Real Estate. 1768 Notaires public notary, Baker & Mckenzie, and PwC acted for the investor in the signing of this off-plan sale agreement. The eight-storey building can accommodate 2,800 people and will feature a gym, a 200-seat auditorium and three restaurants. Construction of the building began in May 2016 with an expected delivery in December 2018.

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Flash sale site Vente-Privee.com will invest €80M to establish an accelerator programme for fashion, tech and retail startups at its Paris HQ. The company plans to build two in-house innovation labs and will partner with Station F, the world’s largest startup campus, to launch 20 new companies.

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DCForData will build a 39k SF data centre in Lyon. It will open in the second half of 2018. The company already operates a facility in Limonest, about 20 miles northwest of Lyon, but the new project will have around three times the surface area.

Germany

Primark is the new anchor tenant for Hines’ 182k SF mixed-use development in Berlin. The Ireland-based clothing retailer has leased 70k SF at ZOOM, in the City West quarter between the Zoo railway station and Kurfürstendamm. ZOOM will be completed in 2018. Primark has signed a long-term lease for the basement and first three floors.

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Union Investment acquired the StadtCenter Düren shopping centre, which is home to 54 retailers and food outlets across some 192k SF. The 96% occupied, two-storey centre is in an inner-city location and includes 311 parking spaces. The vendor is a property fund managed by CBRE Global Investors. The purchase price is approximately €70M. Completed in 2004, the shopping centre will join the portfolio of open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland. CBRE advised the seller, and Savills advised the buyer. Legal and tax advice was provided by BLP, Clifford Chance and Deloitte.

Spain

A fund established by ActivumSG Capital Management acquired two sites in Spain’s Costa de Sol for prime residential developments. The total cost of ActivumSG Fund V’s projects, including the purchase of the land and construction, will be approximately €50M.  

In Marbella, the fund purchased a 3.2-acre site in the Sierra Blanca neighborhood from a private vendor, where the fund plans to build up to 40 luxury condos with communal gardens and underground parking. In downtown Estepona, the fund will erect a 119-unit condo development with a rooftop swimming pool.

Poland

HB Reavis commenced construction on Varso Place, its flagship development in Warsaw city center. Plans for the 1.5M SF mixed-use scheme include one of Europe’s tallest towers and two mid-rise buildings. Completion is scheduled for 2020. Varso Place’s showpiece will be a 53-storey office tower designed by architectural studio Foster + Partners. At 3,337 feet, it will be the tallest building in Poland and one of the tallest in Europe. The two complementary buildings (21 and 19 storeys) are designed by local Warsaw architects Hermanowicz Rewski.