RealCast: Southern European deals, existing trends accelerate, BLand’s senior changes, London still favoured
Nicol Dynes, James Wallace, Paul Strohm and Richard Betts
In the spotlight this week: Southern Europe – While in Milan Blackstone is selling a trophy asset, the former post office headquarters that now contains the Italy headquarters of JP Morgan, in Spain EQT has agreed to pay €1.3bn for the Idealista online property sales platform.
Both deals demonstrate that, despite the current situation in Europe, some companies think that now is a good time to do major deals. Meanwhile the Covid crisis has increased the pace of existing trends. Two major logistics deals in Madrid illustrate that retailing’s move online in Spain is accelerating while in Poland, Covid has highlighted the preference for local convenience shopping.
And in the UK, while British Land announces the successor to current CEO Chris Griggs it is also understood that the company is moving into logistics, somewhat later than its peers.
Meanwhile, a report from Knight Frank finds that London is still top destination in the global investment market.
Nicol Dynes, James Wallace and Paul Strohm join Richard Betts in your regular analysis of the key themes for the week in real assets.
You can download RealCast as a video or audio podcast and watch or listen to previous editions at www.realassetinsight.com
