* Swedish real estate company Victoria Park AB, which is now majority owned by Vonovia SE, agreed to buy two residential portfolios in Sweden from Akelius Residential Property AB for a gross sum of 4.7 billion kronor. The portfolios comprise nine properties, encompassing a total of 2,340 flats. The transaction is scheduled to close April 1, 2019, subject to approval of the competition authority.
* Beni Stabili SpA SIIQ closed its €220.5 million sale of a nonstrategic property portfolio in Italy, marking a net exit yield of roughly 4%. The portfolio includes the Excelsior high-street retail building in Milan and over 44,000 square meters of gross leasable space across two office properties in Turin.
UK
* LondonMetric Property PLC is privately placing £150 million of senior notes, with a blended fixed-rate coupon of 3.5% and a weighted average maturity of 12 years. LondonMetric will use proceeds from the placement to pay down part of its existing unsecured credit facility, which will remain available to be fully drawn.
* Empiric Student Property PLC refinanced £86.1 million of debt with a new 10-year term loan facility, with a fixed rate of 3.196% per year. The company expects to draw £30.6 million from the Scottish Widows Ltd.-provided loan shortly and the remaining £55.5 million at the end of October 2019.
* A Primary Health Properties PLC subsidiary issued €51 million of new senior secured notes at a blended fixed rate of 2.4973% and a weighted average maturity of 10.4 years. Proceeds from the two-tranche issuance will be used to repay euro-denominated tranches of the company's existing revolving credit facilities.
* Brockton Everlast Inc. is in negotiations for the acquisition of the four-building Devonshire Quarter estate in London from Madison International Realty LLC for approximately £95 million. Existing buildings on the site could be demolished after becoming vacant in 2023 to make way for a 23-story, approximately 430,000-square-foot office tower.
* LBS Properties Ltd. wrapped up its purchase of the 43,000-square-foot Defoe Court office building at 44 Featherstone St. in London from Amundi Asset Management for £32 million, Property Week reported. The company also obtained a £29 million loan from GreenOak Real Estate LP to revamp and extend the building.
* Hillview Real Estate paid £26.5 million to buy the Lawnswood Business Park comprising eight buildings in Leeds, PW reported. Hillview funded the deal via a senior debt facility from ICG-Longbow.
* Landlords British Land Co. PLC and Hammerson PLC, and fund managers M&G and Aberdeen Standard are taking legal action against an insolvency procedure involving rent cuts at outlets of hair and beauty group Regis.
Regis' company voluntary arrangement proposal, which outlined issues such as decreasing client numbers and higher wage costs, was deemed as "substantively unfair" by the landlords due to wide-ranging alterations to lease terms, among other factors.
* ZM Land & Capital and Metropolitan Thames Valley gained planning permission to convert the former Shredded Wheat Factory at Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire into a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development, PW reported. Plans for the 24-acre site include 1,440 flats and 150,000 square feet of commercial space, the report added.
Germany and Switzerland
* A UBS Group AG-advised global investor spent €155 million to purchase the 21-story Turmcenter office building in Frankfurt from Benson Elliot Capital Management LLP. The building is certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold.
* TH Real Estate's European Cities Fund bought the De Haagsche Zwaan building in The Hague from real estate investor Capreon for an undisclosed sum, PW reported. The building encompasses almost 200,000 square feet of office space across 20 levels and is fully leased to Deloitte, Kuwait Petroleum and Royal Haskoning DHV, among other tenants.
France
* Covivio picked up a building project in Greater Paris through an off-plan purchase worth €121 million. Axa Investment Managers - Real Assets sold the IRO building in the Malakoff-Montrouge-Châtillon business district on behalf of its clients.
Russia
* U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Dec. 19 that Trump had signed a letter of intent in October 2015 for a Russian property development project while on his presidential campaign, Reuters reported.
Giuliani earlier denied the signing of any letter by Trump related to the Moscow project. The news agency added that the White House did not respond to a comment request on the matter.
Other real estate news
* Secure Property Development & Investment PLC entered into a deal to divest its real estate portfolio to Amsterdam-listed Arcona Property Fund NV. The all-share deal values the portfolio at about €29.3 million and excludes Secure Property's Greek logistics assets.
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