This Week's Europe Deal Sheet

UK

The core European co-location hubs of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris had a strong start to the year, with 26.6 MW of take-up and 38 MW of new supply in Q1, according to CBRE.

London was responsible for 17.5 MW of take-up, 60% of the European total. The market saw significant activity by the hyperscale cloud players, which resulted in London’s second-largest quarterly total on record. In contrast Amsterdam (3.5 MW), Frankfurt (3.2 MW) and Paris (2.3 MW) were relatively quiet in the first quarter.

An expected increase in activity from corporate and enterprise occupiers as the year goes on is forecast to provide more balance to take-up.

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Aprirose acquired the 275-bedroom Mercure Bristol Holland House hotel and spa for a reported £4.5M. Aprirose was advised by West Ridge Asset Management, and the seller was advised by CBRE Hotels. The hotel will be managed by independent hotel management company Redefine BDL.

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Hermes Investment Management will rebrand four office buildings it owns on Farnborough Aerospace Centre as the Ascent Buildings. The new names will replace Warwick, York, Zurich and Infor House, with numerals reflecting the positions of the buildings on entry to the aerospace centre.
 
Hermes Investment Management is also working on proposals for a series of enhancements to three of the offices over the next 14 months. The works will include the creation of glazed atria, and an upgrading of reception areas and public realm. A planning application has been submitted and, subject to consent, work is planned to commence on the first building later this spring.
 
The Ascent Buildings equate to 244K SF of office space with over 1,200 parking spaces.

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Horsham District’s Full Council approved Liberty Property Trust’s application for 2,750 new homes and a 500K SF business park. The scheme will deliver an estimated 4,000 new job opportunities, and 825 new homes specifically allocated to meet local needs.

A £50M package of infrastructure and community benefits are fundamental to the scheme. This will include a new school campus comprising a primary and secondary school, as well as provision for early year’s education and children with special needs, and a multi-use community centre, shops, health facilities, sport and recreation amenities, and public open space.

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A new Jacques Garcia-designed hotel is launching in Holborn in early 2018. Challenger bank OakNorth loaned £21M for the development, along with £3M from RM Funds. Housed within the Grade II listed former Baptist Church headquarters at 2-6 Southampton Row, the new central London venue features 40 bedrooms, a bar, a restaurant, a café and conference facilities.

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Southwark Council gave the go-ahead for First Base to build a new apartment and long-stay hotel complex. The scheme will feature 69 apartment homes and 137 aparthotel rooms, built across three buildings at 151-157 Tower Bridge Road. The ground floor will be available for independent retail and flexible workspace.

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Regency Residential has submitted plans for more than 1,000 apartments and townhouses on the former Monaco House site on Bristol Street in central Birmingham.

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VERB, a new independent fashion brand, has opened at Wykeland’s Flemingate, Beverley. The brand signed a lease for a 1,550 SF store adjacent to fellow independent retailer and jeweller Guest and Philips. The new store features leather Chesterfield seating, industrial lighting fixtures and a display centrepiece showcasing some of the top brands available. It is open seven days a week and will create five jobs.

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LondonMetric Property acquired three urban logistic warehouses in Crawley, Coventry and Huyton for £24M. The purchase price reflects a blended yield of 6% and a reversionary yield of 6.8%. 

• At Crawley, LondonMetric purchased a 51K SF warehouse close to Gatwick airport. The warehouse is let for a further 6.4 years to TNT at a rent of £6.31/SF. There is a break clause and an open market rent review in 2018. LondonMetric was advised by Cogent Real Estate and FTD Johns. 
• At Coventry, LondonMetric acquired a 90K SF warehouse adjacent to Coventry Airport. The warehouse is let to DHL on a new 10-year lease at a rent of £4.75/SF. Lambert Smith Hampton acted for the vendor.
• At Huyton, LondonMetric acquired a 120K SF warehouse on the M62/M57 intersection. The warehouse is let to Antolin Interiors on a new 15-year lease, at a rent of £6.20/SF. JLL represented LondonMetric, and CBRE advised the tenant.

FINLAND

Schroder Real Estate completed the purchase of the Sampotalo office and retail building in Turku. The 104K SF property was built in 1938 and refurbished in 2001. Office space occupies 75% of the 104K SF complex, and is let to five tenants.  

GERMANY

AEW acquired a 107K SF mixed-use asset in Haldensleben, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The asset is 85% let to tenants including Edeka, Kik and Bundesagentur für Arbeit and produces an annual rental income of €1.2M.

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M&G Real Estate acquired a 242K SF Berlin office asset, Badensche Strasse, for €94.1M from an entity managed by JP Morgan Asset Management. Comprising two adjoining buildings with four floors and two basement levels, the office is let to tenants including BImA (the Institute for Federal Real Estate) and Paypal.

SPAIN

Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust acquired Metromar shopping centre in Seville from UBS Asset Management for €52.5M, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.2%. SEREIT is acquiring a 50% stake in joint venture with the Schroder-advised Immobilien Europa Direkt.  The 253K SF shopping centre is let to 50 tenants, with a significant convenience retail offering, anchored by a Mercadona grocery supermarket. The discretionary retail tenants include Zara, Mango, Sfera, H&M, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Bershka and Cortefiel.

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Klépierre, a pure play shopping center property company, acquired Nueva Condomina, a shopping mall in Murcia, for €233M. Following this acquisition, Nueva Condomina becomes the third-largest asset in Klépierre’s Spanish portfolio in terms of net rental income. Covering about 1.1M SF, Nueva Condomina has 178 shops. In 2016, it attracted nearly 11 million visitors and generated €257M in sales.