Property Investment News - March 2010
30/03/2010Crown Estate criticised by MPs
The Crown Estate has been criticised in a new report by MPS, which claims the public body is prioritising revenue creation over wider public interests. The Crown Estate Commissioners (CEC) are responsible for managing properties and rights including urban and rural land valued at over £5 billion, Windsor Great Park and several marine locatio...
30/03/2010Blackpool Council acquires top attractions
Blackpool Council has completed its purchase of some of the seaside resort's top attractions, including the Blackpool Tower, Winter Gardens, the Golden Mile Centre and Louis Tussauds buildings. The local authority has appointed entertainment group Merlin to manage operations and redevelopment of the complex and waxworks. It believes that new inv...
29/03/2010Birmingham commercial property developer goes bankrupt
The company behind a major mixed real estate development in Birmingham has gone into administration, although this will not result in the immediate sale of this scheme. Birmingham Development Company, whose Cube development comprises office, retail, restaurant and hotel and residential property, was forced to advise Lloyds to call in the administ...
29/03/2010Songbird sees rise in real estate portfolio value
The consortium that owns a majority stake in east London's Canary Wharf development has reported a rise in the value of its property portfolio over the second half of last year. Songbird Estates' real estate portfolio was valued at £5 billion on December 31st 2009, which was down by 0.4 per cent over the year but up by 7.6 per cent since Jun...
26/03/2010Derivatives market will remain 'niche' without change, warns expert
The future of the property derivatives market will remain uncertain without more continuous investment, an industry figure has warned. Speaking to delegates at the Investment Property Databank (IPD) Property Derivatives Conference in London, Peter Sceats, director of derivatives broker Tradition Property, welcomed efforts by the likes of Legal &a...
26/03/2010Commerz Real creates unprecedented real estate fund
Real estate asset manager Commerz Real has announced that it will be conjoining two of its open-ended real estate funds to create the single largest one in Europe. The Commerzbank subsidiary will unite its two hausInvest funds, europa and global, to form just a single fund under this title, which would have a volume of approximately £12 bill...
24/03/2010Hansteen sees promise in UK industrial property
Industrial real estate investment trust (Reit) Hansteen Holdings has reported an increase in the size of its property portfolio and an improvement in its performance for last year. Hansteen's net assets, which are spread across Britain and parts of continental Europe, expanded by 78.4 per cent during 2009 to £380 million and although its net...
23/03/2010Regus reports poor UK performance
Regus, the specialist provider of outsourced office space, has recorded a fall in revenues for last year, driven partly by the poor performance of its UK-based property portfolio. Its group revenue decreased by 2.1 per cent to £1.055 billion in 2009, but this comprised a 13.3 per cent drop in its revenues from its UK operations to £191....
22/03/2010Metric reports successful fundraising effort
Retail real estate specialist Metric Property has announced that it has successfully held its initial public offering, exceeding its target for funds raised. Metric's placing and offer for subscription of ordinary shares at a price of 100p per share brought the firm gross proceeds of £175 million, surpassing the target of £150 million i...
22/03/2010Capital & Regional reports stabilised finances
Co-investing property asset manager Capital & Regional has released new figures indicating an improvement its financial position over the course of last year. The value of real estate under Capital & Regional's management fell from £4 billion to £3.1 billion in 2009 and the value of its net assets from £180 million to £...
19/03/2010Derwent shows second half improvement
Real estate investment trust (Reit) Derwent London has posted new figures showing that its performance improved markedly over the second half of last year. While Derwent's adjusted net asset value per share fell by 4.7 per cent in 2009 to 1,168p, this actually comprised an 18 per cent rise during the second half of last year, while the value of i...
19/03/2010Non-doms to push up investment in non-listed funds
Overseas investors will markedly push up the volume of investment in non-listed real estate funds over the next three years, according to a new report. The study conducted by the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate vehicles (INREV) and the Investment Property Forum has forecast that the UK institutional non-listed market ...
17/03/2010Inflation threat to push up bank lending rates?
Several members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have expressed concerned over rising inflation, which could result in a future rise in bank lending rates. Newly released minutes from the MPC's meeting earlier this month indicate that all nine members voted to keep the base rate at 0.5 per cent for March, despite inflation...
15/03/2010IPD: Property values finally up year-on-year
Real estate values showed their first annual increase in two and a half years last month, according to new figures from Investment Property Databank (IPD). The real estate analyst's index revealed that commercial property values in February were up by 1.3 per cent from January and by 2.7 per cent year-on-year, which is the first positive annual g...
12/03/2010IPD reports huge discrepancy in property fund performances
There was a major gap in the returns made by the best and worst performing real estate funds last year, Investment Property Databank (IPD) has reported. The real estate analyst told delegates at its UK 2009 Benchmark Launch this week that commercial property funds posted an average total return of three per cent last year, with 75 per cent making...
09/03/2010Metric Property announce initial public offering
Metric Property has announced that it will hold an initial public offering (IPO) as it prepares to be floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The newly established specialist retail property investment firm intends to capitalise on re-pricing and refinancing pressures in order to build up a portfolio of real estate assets and is already in di...
08/03/2010Council could invest in Manchester Spinningfields property development
Manchester City Council is considering buying a stake in a planned property development in the city's Spinningfields districts in order to ensure it goes ahead. Allied London intends to erect 580,000 square feet of office and retail real estate on sites at One and Two Hardman Street, and Two and Three Hardman Boulevard, but its plans have been he...
05/03/2010FSA chief calls for commercial property lending crackdown
The chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has advocated restricting bank lending to the commercial property sector and diverting credit into other areas instead. Lord Adair Turner told the House of Commons Treasury Committee that 80 per cent of lending is now either to the residential or commercial real estate sectors, whereas other ...
03/03/2010AEGON launches small property investment vehicle
AEGON Asset Management has announced the launch of a new fund designed to invest in small real estate assets on behalf of pension fund investors. Its Active Value Property Fund will concentrate on investment in retail, industrial and office real estate valued at between £3 million and £10 million, although it could also make leisure, me...
02/03/2010New retail property co-investment venture established
NewRiver Retail has entered a joint venture with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) to undertake investment in retail property assets. The venture, entitled NewRiver Retail Investments, will have over £250 million to spend on purchasing retail premises, with an investment period of two years and an overall life-span of at least fiv...