Newsline

Tony Smedley, managing director and head of private equity – Europe at Heitman, discusses a notable shift in investor sentiment towards European real estate, signaling the early stages of a recovery cycle, in an interview with IREI.

Global Student Accommodation (GSA), the global leader in student housing, and Nuveen Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world, on behalf of its parent company TIAA, announced the completion of the acquisition of the YouFirst Campus portfolio from Gecina, for approximately €540 million.

Aviva Investors has launched Propia Operating Co., a real estate operating company specializing in the Spanish build-to-rent (BTR) sector, which has been created in partnership with Layetana Living, a leading Spanish residential developer.

M&G has appointed Simon Ellis as manager of the M&G European Property Fund, with Marc Reijnen taking on a broader role to lead its continental European real estate platform.

Barings has agreed on the sale of a last-mile logistics asset in Savigny-le-Temple, France, to ESR Europe, acting on behalf of its value-add discretionary fund ARA Europe Active Real Estate Fund V.

Savills and Knight Frank have been appointed as joint agents to sell the long leasehold of Vintners Place, a landmark office investment in the City of London, with a guide price of £140 million ($190 million) reflecting a net initial yield of 9.78 percent and only £511 ($695) per square foot.

Franklin Real Asset Advisors (FRAA), on behalf of the Franklin Templeton Social Infrastructure Strategy, has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of 32 care homes comprising approximately 1,500 beds.

GREYKITE European Real Estate Fund I and its affiliates, in strategic partnership with troveinvest has signed the acquisition of a two-property industrial portfolio located in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, Germany.

L&G has refinanced its Industrial Property Investment Fund (IPIF), through a newly agreed £400 million ($536 million) Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), increasing funding capacity from its previous £350 million ($469 million) facility, with the ability to extend the facility to £500 million ($670 million) subject to lender support.

Clarion Partners Europe has acquired, on behalf of its managed funds, Frontier Park Blackburn, a 954,000-square-foot modern logistics park in Blackburn, North West England, for £115 million (€135 million/$115 million), from developer Monte Blackburn.

Realterm has held a final closing.

CapMan Plc and CAERUS Debt Investments AG have signed an agreement where CapMan acquires 51 percent of the shares of CAERUS from the company’s shareholders.

MARK Capital Management, a Pan-European real estate investment manager, is strengthening its Pan-European third-party services offering to existing fund investors as well as new sources of capital.

The latest Market Insights report from INREV reveals a drop in sentiment towards the European real estate market for a second consecutive quarter, with the Consensus Indicator for June declining to 52.2, down from 56.7. This comes despite the first quarter 2025 Quarterly Fund Index posting a positive total return of 1.04 percent and capital growth increasing to 0.56 percent, its strongest showing since second quarter 2022. 

Global prime warehousing costs (rent, taxes and service charges) increased by 1.1 percent in the six months to March 2025, taking the increase in overall warehousing costs to occupiers to 3.6 percent in a 12-month period, says Savills.

Pensioenfonds PostNL, Stichting Pensioenfonds voor Personeelsdiensten (StiPP), Pensioenfonds TNO and ING bank have kicked off investments in the newly raised Bouwinvest Senior Living Impact Fund with a €130 million ($tk million) investment. The fund, which is open to other investors, is focused on realizing the impact of senior housing in the Netherlands.

Neinor Homes, a Spanish homebuilder, has plans to acquire 100 percent of AEDAS Homes, another major player in the Spanish residential market.

COIMA SGR, an Italian real estate investment firm, and Eagle Hills, a United Arab Emirates -based global real estate developer, have partnered to restore the historic Grand Hôtel des Bains in Venice.

Barings on behalf of a core European real estate strategy, has acquired a portfolio of four multi-let urban logistics properties across the southeast of England for £145.2 million ($184.4 million) from Blackstone.

Healthcare real estate transactions in the United Kingdom reached £3.2 billion ($3.71 billion) in 2024, the highest figure seen since 2020, according to property adviser Knight Frank.