Realcast: Google’s Warsaw buy, Allianz goes large, Canadians splash out, MIPIM makes ready

In the spotlight this week:

In a week in which the war in Ukraine has intensified and more western companies have withdrawn from Russia, investors have been active in the real asset markets of Europe. In Warsaw, tech giant Google paid over half a billion dollars for Ghelamco Poland’s The Warsaw Hub and has allocated a further $200 million to adapt the building.

While in Germany, Allianz, developer Edge and pensions group BVK have announced a €1.3 billion office development and acquisition programme in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt in the UK Allianz has joined with Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board to provided £400 million development finance for Welput’s 500,000 sq ft 105 Victoria Street in London.

Thomas White Oxford, the development company for St John’s College Oxford, has agreed a 50-50 joint venture with Canada’s Cadillac Fairview and UK developer Stanhope to deliver a £700 million global innovation district in Oxford with just under 1 million sq ft of laboratory and workspace plus housing.

British Land has sold half of its share in one of London’s largest regeneration projects, Canada Water, to pension fund Australian Super for £290 million.

Elsewhere, Cerberus is allocating €1.5 billion to logistics and Brookfield re-entering the Dutch logistics market with €100 million investment.

Meanwhile, leading academic Dr Nicole Lux a senior research fellow at the Bayes Business School warned that as the search for Russian oligarch wealth continues some European property companies and property funds are being rejected for refinancing by banks because of their ties and quick sales of assets may depress prices.

All of these themes and more will no doubt be picked up at the forthcoming MIPIM real estate event in the week ahead. About 20,000 delegates are understood to have already registered.

Highlights of the show include a keynote from former President of France Francois Hollande and a speaker line up that includes Abrdn head of investment strategy Anne Breen, KPMG’s UK head of real estate Andy Pyle and mayor of the UK’s West Midlands Andy Street.

And Real Asset Media will be staging a packed three-day programme of investment briefings in Cannes at Club MIPIM ’22 and live online on the RealX.Global platform. Follow the links for more details.

Click on the video to watch the full discussion or listen to the podcast below.