European real estate is in the midst of a generational deleveraging cycle that is less than halfway through, more than five years on from the onset of the global financial crisis. There are different ways to frame the refinancing challenge that lies ahead for Europe’s real estate debt markets.

Editor Richard Fleming spoke recently with Dr Karen Sieracki, director at KASPAR Associates Ltd in Tunbridge Wells, United Kingdom, about the role of real estate in the investment world of the moment.

Hines Global REIT has purchased Prologis Park Sosnowiec in Poland for €19.9 million from Prologis.

Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, on behalf of its UniImmo: Deutschland open-end real estate fund, has purchased the fully-let Euro Plaza 4 office building located in Vienna.

Union Investment has launched Specialised Investment Fund, which invests in wind farms and gains exposure to photovoltaic plants, primarily in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

EPI, a fund co-advised by Tristan Capital Partners and AEW Europe, has sold the flagship Karstadt department store in Frankfurt for €115 million.

DIC Asset AG has sold Bienenkorbhaus, located in Frankfurt, for €75 million to RFR Holding GmbH.

UK Core Property Fund, an open-end fund sponsored by AEW UK, has bought an additional five properties for its portfolio.

Orchard Street Investment Management has acquired the Beehive Centre, a shopping centre in Cambridge, from British Land for £109.2 million (€136 million).

A joint venture between funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and Hamburg-based asset manager and investor Redos Real Estate GmbH has acquired the Tobago portfolio.

Legal & General Property (LGP), on behalf of its Property Unit Trust (PUT), has secured planning consent for the development of two new restaurant units at a UK leisure park.

IVG and Garbe Logistik AG have raised a total of approximately €120 million in equity from institutional investors for their IVG Garbe Logistik fund.

IPD has released the mid-year results for global commercial real estate, finding strength in North American markets and continuing bad news for European investors.

Invesco Real Estate has paid €200 million for two separate French retail properties: Alpha Park 2, a newly-built 35,000-square-metre retail park in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, and 144 rue de Rivoli, a 6,750-square-metre mixed-use retail and office property in central Paris.

Henderson Global Investors’ German joint venture, Warburg–Henderson KAG, has completed the equity raise for its property fund, Warburg–Henderson Österreich Fonds Nr 2.

A survey of high-net-worth investors has found that London real estate is their top target investment class.