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MERLIN whizzes through 2017; merger of Austrian rivals shelved

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MERLIN whizzes through 2017; merger of Austrian rivals shelved

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of European real estate news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that may require a subscription.

Big numbers

* MERLIN Properties reported profit attributable to shareholders of the parent of €1.10 billion for 2017, up 89% year over year from €582.6 million. The company's full-year EPS totaled €2.35, up 45% from €1.62 per share in 2016.

* Swiss Prime Site AG saw its total operating income rise 10% year over year to CHF1.15 billion in 2017. EPS totaled CHF4.27, down from CHF4.41 in 2016. Excluding revaluations and deferred taxes, EPS increased to CHF4.30 from CHF3.91 the previous year.

* Full-year profit before tax at Hammerson Plc surged 28.1% year over year to £413.4 million in 2017 from £322.8 million.

Adjusted profit climbed 6.8% to £246.3 million, or 31.1 pence per share, from £230.7 million, or 29.2 pence per share, in 2016.

The U.K.-based retail landlord will hold an extraordinary general meeting in April for shareholders to vote on its proposed £3.4 billion deal to acquire fellow retail real estate investment trust Intu Properties Plc.

On the shelf

* IMMOFINANZ AG's board has shelved further talks on the Austrian commercial real estate company's planned merger with Vienna-based CA Immobilien Anlagen AG following the sale of its entire Russian portfolio in December 2017.

IMMOFINANZ will instead evaluate other strategic options, including a sale of its 26% stake in CA Immobilien, which it acquired in 2016.

In progress

* Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering a sale and leaseback of its new European headquarters in London, a deal that could fetch more than £1 billion. The bank is scheduled to relocate to the building in early 2019.

* Blackstone Group LP-managed real estate funds and M7 Real Estate signed a deal to buy a portfolio of U.K. light industrial assets worth £320 million.

Investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners is selling the 40-property portfolio on behalf of its Active Real Estate Fund III.

Fundraising

* Roughly 50 investors from 11 different countries committed over €700 million to Ardian Real Estate's first Real Estate European fund. The fund plans to spend €50 million to €150 million on core-plus/value-added commercial property assets, with a focus on Germany, France and Italy.

Taking a weight off

* AccorHotels sealed a €4.4 billion cash deal for the sale of a majority stake in its property arm, AccorInvest.

The French hotelier will shed a 55% stake in the property business to investors including the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd., diversified real estate investment trust Colony NorthStar Inc., French asset manager Amundi SA and Crédit Agricole Assurances SA.

* Canada's Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. sold a 4.28% stake, or 3.23 million shares, in Gecina for €473 million, Reuters reported.

The share sale, which took place through a placement with several investors using an accelerated book-building process, reduced Ivanhoé's interest in the French real estate investment trust to 15.4%.

Changing hands

* Affiliates of Blackstone's new pan-European core-plus unit wrapped up their purchase of Taliesin Property Fund Ltd. for €260 million, or €51 per share.

Taliesin's portfolio primarily comprises multifamily properties in Berlin.

* Oaktree Capital Group LLC carried out one of Ireland's largest retail deals with the €250 million purchase of the Square shopping center in Tallaght. The 53,603-square-meter asset was reported to have an asking price of €233 million in fall 2017.

* Frankfurt's former police headquarters was sold for €212.5 million. German developer GerchGroup bought the property and is planning a roughly €800 million project to develop a mixed-use complex on the site.

* U.K.-based hospitality company Whitbread PLC is set to buy a 19-hotel portfolio in Germany from Foremost Hospitality Group GmbH for an undisclosed sum.

The company plans to rebrand the hotels under its U.K.-based hotel chain Premier Inn.

Nearing the finish line

* Saudi Arabia-listed Jabal Omar Development Co. may complete its merger with Umm Al Qura Development and Construction in 2018, Reuters reported, citing a senior company executive. The transaction is expected to create a real estate business with 50 billion Saudi Arabian riyals of investments.

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Amisha Mehta and Aimen Hakim contributed to this report.

As of March 1, US$1 was equivalent to 3.75 Saudi riyals.