The current crisis in the euro zone is principally the result of a systemic failure in the region’s monetary construction. Long-held fears that currency union without political union is unworkable have largely proved correct. However, we maintain the view that the euro zone will not break apart, and that all current members will continue using the currency.

Debt. Deficit. Austerity. Unemployment. Inflation. For what seems longer than just the past few months, the old continent has been struggling with these demons. Investors are still eager to find new opportunities despite these threats. The real estate sector can be an attractive option, because it’s seen to be far less risky than stocks and shares and offers better returns than the obligations of bonds. Investors are hence still interested in real estate prospects in the “golden triangle”: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Specifically, investors are on the lookout for prime office assets in London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin. But other investors have become more adventurous and are seeking returns from different types of assets and markets.

The West End of London Property Unit Trust (WELPUT), managed by Schroders and advised by Grafton Advisors, has sold the freehold interest in Stratton House to a private European investor for £166 million (€204 million).

Two decades ago, interest rates were up and real estate loan borrowers were failing to pay banks their dues

Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate GmbH has sold the Luisencenter shopping centre in Darmstadt, Germany, to a fund managed by LaSalle Investment Management for €104 million.

Meyer Bergman and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), a Canadian pension fund, have opened Forum Nová Karolina, a shopping centre in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Munich-based Real IS has launched Bayernfonds Australien 8, a single-property investment fund.

Deka Immobilien GmbH has been actively investing across Europe, including two major acquisitions in London.

Prologis, a San Francisco–based industrial REIT, recently closed on the sale of two large logistics portfolios.

Rockspring Property Investment Managers has been busy developing new sustainable office buildings around the United Kingdom with multiple joint venture partners.

The Morgan Stanley P2 Value Fund is selling its 56.95 percent stake in the Trianon Office Tower in Frankfurt to Madison International Realty, a New York City–based investment company, and its German subsidiary, Madison Real Estate.

Land Securities has agreed to sell the 1.3-hectare Arundel Great Court site in London to Waterway PCP Properties Ltd for a headline price of £234 million (€288 million).

Klépierre, with its partners SNCF and Spie Batignolles, has opened St Lazare Paris, a new retail space at the Saint-Lazare railway station.

Non-listed Asian property funds will receive a greater increase in allocations from investors than non-listed European property funds, according to a comparison of the two markets carried out by INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles, and its sister organisation, ANREV, the Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles.

INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles, has published a white paper on the Standard Data Delivery Sheet (SDDS), an initiative to improve communication between investors and fund managers.

ING Real Estate Development, part of ING Group, has sold its shares in the holding company that owns 77 percent of Zlote Tarasy, a mixed-use property development in Warsaw, reducing its exposure by €475 million.

Invesco Real Estate (IRE) has acquired a London office property on behalf of the iii-BVK Europa-Immobilien-Spezialfonds, an institutional real estate fund of Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), which IRE has managed since 2000.