* The flexible office sector, which accounted for 4.8% of the London market as of June 30, is estimated to comprise at least 5.5% of London's office stock by the end of 2019, Property Week reported, citing Cushman & Wakefield. In the report titled Co-working 2019: The UK Flexible Evolution Continues, the forecast of 5.5% is three years ahead of Cushman's previous expectation.
The flexible office sector accounted for the highest take-up in the 18 months to June with an 18% market share, followed by technology with a 16% share, and banking and finance with a 15% share, according to the report.
UK
* The third phase of the Battersea Power Station regeneration project in London received a £600 million debt facility from a consortium including Standard Chartered Bank, CIMB, Maybank, OCBC, DBS and RHB, IPE Real Assets reported. The facility will be used to fund the development of the third phase of the
* Commerz Real AG sold two hotels at 46-47 Blackfriars Road in London to a special-purpose vehicle of Accor Hotelinvest U.K. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. The assets, which have been operated by Accor since they opened, comprise a four-star Novotel with 182 rooms and a two-star, 297-room Ibis property. Commerz Real acquired the development in 2010 for its open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest.
* Darin Partners, on behalf of Bank of London & The Middle East PLC, acquired Scottish Gas' 94,124-square-foot office in Granton, Greater Edinburgh, in Scotland for £27 million, PW reported. The acquisition of the four-floor property reflects an initial yield of 6%. The asset is let to Centrica's Scottish Gas until 2035 with consumer price index-linked rental uplifts, according to the report.
* Robert Hitchins Ltd. and outlet operating firm ROS Retail Outlet Shopping revealed plans for a 195,000-square-foot outlet village, Designer Outlet Cotswolds, which will be built at junction 9 of the M5 motorway in Gloucestershire, Europe Real Estate reported. The development will feature about 90 retail units, restaurants and cafes, with construction due to commence in autumn 2020.
The outlet village will be opened in two phases, with the first phase expected to open toward the end of 2021, according to the report.
* Singapore-based property firm City Developments Ltd. said its £2.23 billion offer to privatize Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC became unconditional in all respects, after receiving valid acceptances for 65,884,995 shares or approximately 58.28% of the ordinary share capital that it did not already own in Millennium & Copthorne, according to a filing.
The offer will remain open for further acceptance until Sept. 27, with the delisting of Millennium & Copthorne expected to take place Oct. 11, the companies noted.
France
* Patrizia AG, on behalf of one of its logistics funds from Goodman France, purchased a newly built major logistics warehouse spanning 61,000 square meters in Andrezieux-Boutheon, 15 kilometers north of Saint-Etienne in France, Europe Real Estate reported.
The property, which is on the ZAC de l'Orme industrial estate, is fully let on a long-term lease to C-Logistics, which will use the property as its main distribution center in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeast-central France.
* PGIM Real Estate, on behalf of investors in its core plus and value-add pan-European discretionary funds, acquired an office building, a class A logistics platform development project and an office campus in France, Property Magazine International reported.
The asset manager purchased a 5,000-square-meter office building, Atria, at 30bis-32 rue de Paradis in the 10th arrondissement in Paris, that is fully leased to coffee and tea company Jacobs Douwe Egberts.
It acquired a class A logistics development project, comprising a 76,000-square-meter site, from Grand Paris Aménagement at Servon in Seine-et-Marne in the south of Paris, where a 31,000-square-meter logistics property will be delivered as per the transaction.
In addition, PGIM Real Estate acquired the Portes Sud office campus, comprising three office buildings totaling roughly 20,000 square meters, near the Toulouse ring road in the business district of Bordelongue, the publication said.
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Conference Chatter: European property CEOs urge sector to play greater role tackling public unrest: European real estate companies and investors must take on more responsibility for delivering what the public needs if they hope to see an end to the political unrest that has shaken the continent in recent years, leading figures from the sector told a conference in Madrid.
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