* Unibail-Rodamco SE's recurring earnings per share for full-year 2017 amounted to €12.05, up 7.2% from €11.24 in 2016. The company's net rental income for the year weighed in at €1.58 billion, marking a gain from €1.53 billion in the year-ago period. On a like-for-like basis, net rental income rose 4.2% year over year.
Meanwhile, CFO Jaap Tonckens noted that the company's US$15.68 billion offer to buy Australia-listed Westfield Corp. is fair and will be accepted by the shareholder.
* S IMMO AG issued €150 million worth of fixed rate corporate bonds at €500 apiece. The issuance comprised six-year bonds worth €100 million at a yearly coupon rate of 1.75% and €50 million of 12-year fixed-rate bonds holding a 2.875% annual coupon rate.
UK and Ireland
* Hammerson Plc carried out an exchange of contracts for the £57.5 million sale of Battery Retail Park in Birmingham, U.K., to NFU Mutual, reflecting a net initial yield of 6%.
The retail park spans 12,600 square meters of total space and includes tenancies such as Next, TK Maxx, Homebase, Sports Direct and Halfords.
* Hibernia REIT Plc also signed a €28.7 million deal for the purchase of the six-story 77 Sir John Rogerson's Quay office building in Dublin's South Docks. Hibernia let the property — featuring 34,400 square feet of space and 20 basement parking lots — to an International Workplace Group plc unit for 25 years at €1.8 million of initial rent.
* TH Real Estate bought the 55 Colmore Row office building in Birmingham, U.K., for approximately £98 million on behalf of its European Cities Fund. The seven-story property spans 14,378 square meters and offers leisure accommodation and parking amenities.
* Target Healthcare REIT Ltd. is planning to sell up to 92,592,592 ordinary shares to raise up to £100 million.
The proceeds from the issue will be used to fund the company's investment pipeline consisting of £39 million worth of existing capital commitments and imminent acquisitions expected to be completed by March 31, as well as near-term acquisitions worth £61 million to be acquired by June 30.
* Regional REIT Ltd. acquired British office investment company Archimedes Real Estate Investment for £43.2 million.
* Legal & General has agreed to buy an industrial site in Brighton, U.K., on which it plans to build the city's first build-to-rent development scheme, Property Week reported. The project features 200 new homes and up to 32,300 square feet of commercial space, subject to approval.
* PRS REIT plc will place up to 250 million new ordinary shares at a price of 102.5 pence apiece to fund the acquisition of PRS development sites and newly completed PRS plots. A bookbuilding exercise for the placing is slated to close at 1 p.m. London time on March 1.
* Marks & Spencer has cut back on its expansion plan for the Simply Food stores across the U.K. after re-evaluating its strategy for the brand, PW reported. The retailer had planned to open 200 Simply Food stores in the next five years and 90 stores in 2018, but will now open just 36 over the next six months.
Meanwhile, six stores under the brand will close by the end of April, with eight more proposed to be shuttered and a further two scheduled to be moved elsewhere, according to the report.
* The U.K. government has vowed to deliver up to 3,000 new homes constructed on unused or surplus National Health Service, or NHS, land across England under a five-year plan, PW reported. The plan will be financed via government funding, private funding and the proceeds from the sale of plots under the NHS Estate, out of which a total of 59 sites have been sold so far, the publication noted.
* The global head of BlackRock Inc.'s real assets unit, Jim Barry, believes that the London property market is under pressure, even as office prices in the city remain close to record highs, Bloomberg News reported. Since the Brexit vote in 2016 and related uncertainties, real estate investment trusts focused on the U.K. capital have been trading at wide discounts to the value of their assets, the report added.
Sweden
* Entra ASA reopened a floating-rate note issuance due Oct. 14, 2022, and issued 300.0 million Norwegian kroner of bonds under the same series at a price of 100.32%.
* Brunswick Real Estate Group, along with an unnamed Nordic institution, secured a €101.2 million loan from a joint venture between developer Adapta Fastigheter and insurer Alecta pensionsförsäkring, Property Investor Europe reported. The funds will be used to finance the development of a 100-unit shopping center in Kungälv, according to the report.
Germany
* Round Hill Capital expanded its footprint in Germany with the acquisition of a residential portfolio of 320 units in Hamburg, PIE reported. The company is on the lookout for residential portfolios in the country's 15 largest greater metropolitan areas for its growth strategy.
Belgium and the Netherlands
* BMO Real Estate Partners paid €60 million to purchase two prime high-street properties — a 1,328-square-meter mixed-use asset in Amsterdam and a 986-square-meter retail unit in Brussels — for its pan-European retail property investment fund.
Italy
* BNP Paribas REIM bought a €250 million portfolio comprising 40 supermarkets and seven hypermarkets in Italy from Coop Alleanza 3.0, PIE reported. The purchase was carried out on behalf of its Retail Partnership investment fund, the report added.
Middle East
* Azrieli Group's bond offering to institutional investors raised 1.4 billion New Israeli shekels. The 6.2-year, inflation-linked bonds held an average yield of 0.94%.
Other real estate news
* Brazil-based Grupo GWI now holds 8,539,596 common shares in Gafisa SA after raising its stake in the company to 30.45% by purchasing common issued shares through its direct and indirect subsidiaries.
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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.
Celestyn Wong and Ayesha Waqar contributed to this report.
As of Jan. 31, US$1 was equivalent to 7.87 Swedish kronor and 3.41 New Israeli shekels.
