CBRE Global Investors completed €6.6billion of direct transactions in EMEA in 2015, representing an approximate 30 percent increase on 2014.
The total breaks down to €3.1 billion of acquisitions and €3.5 billion of disposals, as the company capitalised on strong appetite from buyers and an increased level of stock coming to the market.
“Through 2015 we saw an increasingly liquid market in EMEA. This has enabled our priority programmes to be disciplined buyers and it has also been good timing to dispose of assets in agreement with fund exit plans. Being both a buyer and seller demonstrates the competitive advantage of our platform and our ability to transact successfully at all stages of the cycle,” said Pieter Hendrikse, CEO EMEA, CBRE Global Investors.
Around 60 percent of the company’s acquisitions were in the retail sector, which is significantly above the 26 percent market average, as reported by CBRE.
“Our strong EMEA-focused retail team, monitoring trends and managing nearly €15 billion of retail assets throughout Europe, enables us to continuously source interesting risk weighted investment opportunities in all retail formats from high street stores and supermarkets to prime and secondary shopping centres. With our expert asset management teams on the ground we are fully engaged in the evolution of physical retail and e-commerce, thus enhancing asset performance and reducing investment risk,” said Sophie van Oosterom, CIO EMEA, CBRE Global Investors.
For 2016, the company expects acquisition volumes to take the lead as a result of the growth of existing funds and a number of new separate account mandates with significant requirements for retail, logistics and office investment s in 2016.
“We are known as a reliable counter party having successfully completed over 230 transactions in 2016 on behalf of our mandated clients. We have a strong acquisitions pipeline across the sectors and have ongoing requirements particularly for high quality, well located retail and logistics assets,” said John Mulqueen, Head of Transactions EMEA, CBRE Global Investors.
In total, the EMEA business including CBRE Global Investment Partners, transacted €10.4 billion.
