* Private investment company Ardian Real Estate raised more than €700 million for its first Real Estate European fund after commitments were received from roughly 50 investors from 11 different countries. The fund plans to spend between €50 and €150 million on core-plus commercial property assets, with a focus on Germany, France and Italy.
* In one of Ireland's largest retail deals, Oaktree Capital Group LLC paid €250 million to purchase the Square shopping center in Tallaght. The 53,603-square-meter property, anchored by Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Debenhams, includes 160 shop units, a 13-screen cinema and more than 2,400 carpark spaces.
UK
* A joint venture between Galliard Homes Ltd. and housing association Catalyst aims to build 604 homes and public facilities on the 500,000-square-foot site of the former Wimbledon dog track in London at a gross development value of £350 million. Plans for the project also include an 18,000-square-foot leisure facility and 4,000 square feet of retail space.
* Topland Group has sold the freehold interest in the 112,274-square-foot First Avenue House in High Holborn, London, to an Asian investor for £154 million. The building houses the Central Family Court for London.
* Private equity investment group Quadrum Global received an unconditional planning permission for its first hotel project in London, PW reported. The group plans to build a 118-room hotel with 63,400 square feet of space on 54 to 57 Great Marlborough St. in Soho at a gross development value of £130 million.
* A unit of Japan-based Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. is divesting the 265 Strand office building in London's Midtown to Trinity Grand Investment Management for a price understood to be approximately £80 million, PW reported. The 76,000-square-foot prime office asset is fully leased to law firm Covington & Burling LLP until 2021, the publication noted.
* The Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund and the University of Liverpool Pension Fund have jointly committed £50 million to Kames Capital's second value property fund, Kames UK Active Value Property Unit Trust II, IPE Real Assets reported. The successor to Kames Capital's Kames UK Active Value Property Unit Trust will focus on commercial properties with £5 million to £15 million lot sizes, the report noted.
* Home prices in the U.K. grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in February, less than the 3.2% annual rise recorded in the prior month due to a weak economic prospect and Brexit, Bloomberg News reported, citing Nationwide Building Society. Month over month, the prices declined 0.3% in February, the report added.
* Landsec board chairman Alison Carnwath will step down in 2018, after a nine-year tenure in the position. The company will engage external advisers to elect her replacement, according to a statement.
Germany and Austria
* Developer GerchGroup bought Frankfurt's former police headquarters for €212.5 million, with plans to invest about €800 million on a new mixed-use complex on the 15,000-square-meter site.
* U.K.-based hospitality company Whitbread paid an unknown amount to purchase a portfolio comprising 19 hotels in Germany from Foremost Hospitality Group GmbH. The company will inject the hotels into its Premier Inn brand, taking its pipeline total under the brand in Germany to 31 hotels with 5,700 rooms in 15 cities, which are all anticipated to open by 2020-end.
* Rezidor Hotel Group AB and the prizeotel economy design hotel brand are jointly opening two new prizeotel hotels. The joint venture partners have agreed to build a 250-room hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany, and a 294-room hotel in Vienna, with both of the assets scheduled to open in 2022.
* Barings LLC's Barings Real Estate picked up the Perchtinger Strasse 8-10 building in Munich's Obersendling district from two private investors for an undisclosed sum. The office building offers over 10,000 square meters of lettable area and 137 underground parking spaces, according to a release.
Luxembourg
* Prologis Inc.'s Luxembourg-based unit, Prologis International Funding II SA, priced its inaugural issuance of €300.0 million of green bonds due 2028 under a €5.0 billion guaranteed euro medium-term note. The notes were issued at 99.059% of the principal amount and carry an annual rate of 1.750%.
Middle East
* Saudi Arabia-listed Jabal Omar Development Co. is on track to wrap up its merger with Umm Al Qura Development and Construction in 2018. The deal is estimated to form a real estate business with 50 billion Saudi Arabian riyals of investments.
* Al Fahid Property Development will launch March 3 the sales of units in the first phase of the Al Marsa waterfront residential development in Abu Dhabi, Arabian Business reported. The initial phase will encompass 301 luxury villas and nine apartment buildings, with completion slated in the third quarter of 2023.
The entire 3.2 million-square-meter Al Marsa project will be developed in five stages, the report added.
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The Daily Dose Europe, Real Estate edition, is updated as of 6:30 a.m. London time. Some links require a subscription. Articles and links are correct as of publication time.
Rollen Catorce contributed to this report.
As of March 1, US$1 was equivalent to 3.75 Saudi riyals.
