On 8 February 2012, Blackstone’s real estate funds completed the acquisition of the Galeria Têcza shopping mall in Kalisz from Rank Progress S.A. The value of the transaction was €37 million. Galeria Têcza is joining King’s Street Retail, a collection of high quality Polish shopping centers owned by Blackstone, which so far includes Magnolia Park in Wroclaw, Galeria Twierdza in Klodzko, Galeria Twierdza in Zamosc, Galeria Pestka in Poznañ, and Wzorcownia in Wloclawek. The combined GLA of all the shopping centres in the portfolio of King’s Street Retail including Galeria Tecza is over 200,000 m². Opened in October 2011, Galeria Tecza is conveniently located in the centre of Kalisz. With a GLA of 16,100 m² and 250 parking spaces, the scheme is the city’s foremost retail...

Kerry Properties Limited (HKEx: 683) is pleased to announce that it has acquired a site in So Kwun Wat, Castle Peak Road (Tuen Mun Town Lot No. 423) for HK$2,739 million through public tender. The Company plans to designate the site for the development of a premium residential project. The site occupies an area of about 722,770 square feet and is located in the exclusive locale of Area 48, Castle Peak Road. The site has a buildable gross floor area of 939,600 square feet, and is expected to be developed into not less than 1,100 residential units upon completion. Kerry Properties Limited stated that its management considered the price of the land reasonable. The local market has keen demand for large-scale premium property developments. With its beautiful surroundings, the Company...

LaSalle Investment Management (“LaSalle”) and Quantum Global Real Estate (“Quantum Global”) are pleased to announce they will combine their deep investment management experience in a joint venture to invest in large real estate assets around the globe, with potential for expanding the capital base through additional syndicate-style arrangements.  With leverage the venture has $1 billion gross of initial buying power. The venture is targeting predominantly core real estate assets: quality long-term investments in excess of $100 million located in major mature real estate markets around the world.  Initial focus is expected to be on Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The venture will seek to make investments on its own and also as part of club...

In a first for the university sector Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has closed on a deal with the University Partnership Programme (UPP) which combines residential and non-residential elements. The 40 year concession will see the construction and management of 911 student accommodation units, a new student union building and other facilities. It is being built by Vinci Construction and the project is expected to take 18 months to complete. NTU was advised by international law firm Pinsent Masons. Pinsent Masons partner and student housing specialist Martin Priestley said: “This ground-breaking project is great news for the city of Nottingham and for present and future NTU students. The project sends out a strong signal to the market that demand for high quality university...

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provides an approx. £26 million (approx. €30 million) financing to support the acquisition of the Bolton Gate Retail Park in Bolton and Central Retail Park in Havant, Southampton for the ‘Investment Circle UK’ mandate of UBS. The pbb loan for the acquisition facility closed in January 2012. pbb acted as Arranger, Agent and Sole Lender on the facility. The properties comprise modern strong retail parks with Bolton having been built in 1998 and Havant in 2007. They are both located close to their respective central areas and benefit from good accessibility. Both properties offer asset management opportunities with over 10 years unexpired on their respective leases. The mandate is managed by the Swiss based ‘Global Customized Client Mandate’ (GCCM)...

During 2011 Moscow’s office market showed signs of both growth and slowdown, according to a new report from CBRE Russia Office Research. We observed falling vacancy and an increase in rental rates for quality office space. The level of new supply and take-up dropped considerably compared with the results of 2010: 2011 was similar to 2004 and 2005 when the market started its growth in terms of new delivered office space and demand levels. The total take-up for 2011 was 1.18 mln m² (this figure includes new leases and owner occupied space, excludes extensions and investment sales). Out of this volume class-A and B+ take-up was 1 million m². In contrast to 2010, in 2011 geographically, the demand for office space in the CBD decreased to 23% versus 33% in 2010. Former class-C tenants...

International law firm Pinsent Masons and national law firm McGrigors have confirmed plans to merge the two organisations following a partner vote. The combined firm, which will operate worldwide under the name and brand of Pinsent Masons, will employ over 2500 people in total including over 1500 lawyers, 500 of whom will be based in Pinsent Masons' international headquarters in the City of London. The firm will have market-leading UK coverage, with a significant presence in each of the UK's three legal jurisdictions. Its international profile, which already encompasses four offices in Asia Pacific, will include two offices in the Gulf (Dubai and Qatar). Two more offices in France and Germany are expected to launch during 2012. Chris Mullen, senior partner of Pinsent...

HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung has let a further 1,700 m² at the maxCologne office complex in Cologne-Deutz to the GÖRG Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten: The legal firm is exercising its option on a further floor in the Rheinetagen building, and will be occupying a total rental area of 8,500 m². This means that 80% of the Rheinetagen building is now let. In total, 46,500 m² of rental space have been let—in other words, 95% of the maxCologne complex as a whole. In 2011 GÖRG had already concluded the year’s third-largest lease in Cologne, for around 6,800 m² — or two-thirds of the rental space in the Rheinetagen building—and will move in to the six upper levels of the seven office stories at the beginning of 2013. The high-rise, which has a rental area of 38,000 m² and 19 office...

Prologis, Inc. (NYSE: PLD), the leading global owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, today announced that it has completed the sale of a 3.5 million square foot (346,000 square meters) portfolio of UK industrial properties to Blackstone, one of the world's leading investment and advisory firms. The aggregate sales price was approximately $335 million, of which $295 million was Prologis' share of the proceeds. The portfolio comprises 13 properties located in England's Midlands and Yorkshire. The properties are 100 percent leased with an average unexpired lease term that exceeds nine years. "We were pleased with the amount of interest this portfolio garnered as the combination of quality assets and lease term appealed to multiple investors," said Philip...