Brainsre compiles below the weekly news highlights.
Retail – AEW invests in prime retail in Cannes
- Fondis, a vehicle specialized in commercial real estate investment managed by AEW, has acquired a prime commercial property at 118 rue d’Antibes in Cannes. The property, spanning 375 square meters over four floors, is fully leased to Italian fashion retailer Twinset through a 12-year lease agreement.
- Fondis focuses on investing in commercial assets located near major retail areas in French cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, and Cannes. It currently has a portfolio of over 65 assets with a total capitalization of €500 million.
- AEW, backed by Natixis IM, manages a global real estate portfolio worth €84.9 billion, including €38.5 billion in Europe. In France, it recently acquired Enedis’ new Lyon site for approximately €103 million.
Companies – For Blackstone, not all property is created equal
- Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, concluded the final closing of its real estate fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, after raising a record-breaking $30.4 billion in a fundraising round.
- Kathleen McCarthy, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, revealed in an exclusive interview that the company intends to utilize the capital by employing a diversification strategy centered around five themes with strong convictions.
- With $991 billion in assets under management, Blackstone aims to deploy its substantial capital in the real estate sector, leveraging its position as a leading player in the industry to pursue various investment opportunities and generate returns.
Residential – Paris 20th: a final investment for the OPPCI Immobilier Impact Investing
- Swiss Life Asset Managers France has acquired a residential asset in the 20th arrondissement of Paris on behalf of the OPCPI Immobilier Impact Investing.
- The Parisian building, consisting of 15 new housing units and three raw floors, will be made available to the Paris Samu Social in summer 2023 for a symbolic euro, providing temporary housing for 57 vulnerable individuals over a ten-year period.
- The latest project offers an architecturally sensitive neighborhood design that integrates well into the existing urban fabric.
Market – Consumer real estate funds announce their performance and investments for Q1 2023
- SCPIs show stable distribution rates and valuations compared to the previous year, despite rising interest rates. SCIs have a slightly negative average performance, while OPCIs have a negative performance.
- Public real estate funds invested €1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023, with a total collection of €2.8 billion during the same period.
- SCPIs had an annualized distribution rate of 4.24% in Q1 2023, with a slight increase in distribution payments. Valuations for SCPIs remained almost unchanged, reflecting a global performance of 1.0% according to the EDHEC IEIF Immobilier France index.
Offices – Amundi puts mega office portfolio up for sale
- Amundi has tasked JLL with selling a €2.5 billion portfolio of prime office buildings across Europe.
- The portfolio includes ten high-quality office buildings in cities like Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam, generating €124 million in annual rents.
- Investors have the opportunity to bid for a minority or majority stake in the portfolio, with Amundi remaining as the asset manager. The sale is a significant test of investor appetite for European office properties amid lower transaction volumes and a focus on higher-quality assets.
