AEW Europe eyes €3bn of deals in 2011

The Paris-based real estate investment manager says it hope to buy and sell around €3bn of property, up 30 percent on volume in 2010

AEW Europe, the Paris-based investment manager, is hoping to transact around €3 billion of real estate in 2011.

The company revealed today it bought and sold €2.3 billion last year but that it was targeting 30 percent more this year.

Calling European property market conditions in 2010 “difficult”, AEW said it had managed to complete €1.1 billion of fresh investments. Forty five percent of those were in France, 17 percent in Germany, 14 percent in the UK, 12 percent in Poland, and 11 percent in Spain.

One of its most recent deals was for European Property Investors Special Opportunities (EPISO), a fund co-advised by AEW Europe and Tristan Capital Partners, for which it bought a core shopping centre asset with development plans for €92 million in the Polish city, Slupsk. It also completed a sale and leaseback deal with Spanish retail giant Eroski in a deal valued at €150 million.

By property sector, office assets accounted for 45 percent, with retail providing 26 percent, logistics 25 percent and residential 3 percent.

The €1.1 billion of fresh investments was slightly more than in 2009 when it bought €1 billion.  

Around half of the AEW group’s €30 billion global portfolio is in Europe.