GERMANY
The Nhow Hotel in Berlin has been acquired by BVI Eastern Property Holdings.
It has acquired 89.9% of interest in the Nhow Hotel in Berlin from the Jesta Group and its partner. They agreed to not disclose the acquisition price to the public.
The Nhow Hotel property was completed in 2010 and comprises approximately 20,160 square meters including 304 rooms, 86 underground and 39 surface parking spaces, a spa, restaurant and two music studios.
Located in the popular, upcoming area of Friedrichshain, the real estate is notable for its extraordinary, modern construction and desirable waterside location.
The award-winning architecture of the building was designed by Berlin architect Sergei Tchoban.
The property is leased in its entirety to Nhow Hotel, part of the NH Hotel Group, the third largest business hotel group in Europe. The lease has over 15 years left with the option to extend by a further 10 years.
This acquisition is the latest in EPH’s on-going strategy to diversify its portfolio across major Western European markets, adding attractive real estate investments in stable markets with strong long-term economic outlook.
Long-term outlook attractive
EPH believes that the long term outlook of Berlin is attractive both from a business and tourism market.
The disposition is in line with Jesta’s strategy of purchasing properties in need of restructuring and translating that into added value to its shareholders.
Berlin is the most attractive tourist destination in Germany, with 12.9 million arrivals and 31.3 million overnight stays recorded in 2019.
The meetings and congress market generated around 8.1 million overnight stays in Berlin in 2018 and is expected to grow further due to new exhibition halls with a capacity of 200,000 square meters.
EPH has confidence in the Berlin hotel market, especially in the up and coming Mediaspree area, as well as the long-term performance of the NH Hotel Group.
Eastern Property Holdings Ltd. is an investment company listed on SIX Swiss Exchange which holds interest in office, residential and retail properties. EPH is managed by Valartis International Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valartis Group AG.
Source: http://www.easternpropertyholdings.com/download.php?id=441
Improved logistics center sold in Helsinki
FINLAND
Nordic property specialist Genesta has sold the Juvanmalmi Logistics Centre in Espoo, for an undisclosed sum.
The Juvanmalmi Logistics Centre, in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, was sold on behalf of Genest’s GNRE Fund II.
The 60,900 square meter logistic center was acquired in February 2018 and has since been upgraded with solar panels and LED lights. The fully-leased property was awarded with BREEAM In-Use Good certification in 2020.
David Neil, Chief Executive Officer of Genesta, says, “We are pleased with how we have managed to improve the property during our hold and it shows that our proactive hands-on management will deliver a strong return for our investors.”
“The sold facility, located in the important logistic belt alongside Ring Road III, comprises four heated warehouses and one unheated storage facility.
“We continue to look for attractive opportunities in Helsinki and across the Nordics.”
Nordanö and Aleksandra Attorneys advised Genesta in the transaction. CBRE and Roschier advised the buyer in the transaction.
GNRE Fund II’s strategy is to provide institutional investors with value-add office property investments in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Oslo. The fund also invests in retail and logistics properties in large metropolitan areas in the Nordic region.
Source: https://genesta.eu/news/genesta-sells-juvanmalmi-25-in-espoo-finland
Two distribution warehouses bought
GERMANY
Leading investment manager, Warburg-HIH Invest has acquired two logistics assets for its OpenEnded Special Alternative Investment Fund (AIF).
The distribution warehouses are in Saarland and the Rhine-Main region.
The fund invests in modern distribution and transshipment centres with alternative use potential, in established sites throughout Germany.
The investment fund’s equity target is around €250 million, of which more than €100 million in investor funds have already been raised. The total investment volume of the fund is €500 million euros.
Andreas Strey, Senior Fund Manager at Warburg-HIH Invest, says, “We have made much faster progress both with the fundraising among investors and the acquisition of properties than we had planned for 2020.”
The single-tenant property in Saarland, which will already be completed in April 2020, provides about 18,100 square meters of warehouse and lettable logistics space of and over 1,300 square meters of office space.
It is fully occupied on a long-term lease. The second acquisition involves a distribution warehouse under development in the Frankfurt am Main metro area.
Located close to Fraport, the largest freight airport in Europe, the logistics property has about 15,000 square metres of lettable warehouse and logistics space, around 2,700 square metres of office space and about 100 car parking spots. The multi-tenant property is fully occupied, the average remaining lease term being around 13 years. The completion is scheduled for mid-2020.
Both transactions represented asset deals. It was agreed not to disclose the selling prices.
Coronavirus crisis has increased popular acceptance of e-commerce
Lars Bothe, Senior Transaction Manager at Warburg-HIH Invest, “The ongoing coronavirus crisis has increased popular acceptance of e-commerce, and will boost its growth in the long term. In addition, we are expecting to see a trend toward changed supply chains, especially of system- and production-relevant goods that will roll back the off-shoring to Asia and prompt increased onshoring in Germany, resulting in growing demand for logistics accommodation in Germany. The logistics real estate sector stands to benefit from the trend accordingly.”
On the buyer side, the legal due diligence of the Saarland transaction was conducted by Norton Rose Fulbright, the technical due diligence by SCHWAB engineers Projektmanagement. Norton Rose Fulbright was responsible for the legal due diligence for the transaction in the greater Frankfurt area while REC Partners took care of the technical due diligence. Logivest acted as estate agent in an advisory role during both transactions.
The image is a stock picture of a warehouse.
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