Deals

Kennedy Wilson hits $1.6bn of deals in Europe

The California-based firm says the value of its European listed property investment vehicle has surpassed the billion-mark since its initial public offering in February.

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Kennedy Wilson’s European listed company has surpassed £1 billion (€1.23 billion; $1.67 billion) of acquisitions since its initial public offering in February this year making it one of the most acquisitive groups in Europe.

The figure was released today by Kennedy Wilson Real Estate Europe, which is a listed closed-ended investment fund on the London Stock Exchange that targets real estate and real estate loans. The £1 billion figure includes around £206 million of assumed non-recourse debt it revealed.

Highlighting deals to date, Los Angeles-based Kennedy Wilson said it was completing the acquisition of the Fordgate Jupiter Portfolio announced on 6 June, which is a collection of 21 mixed use assets in England and Scotland with a principal balance of around £119 million. It is also working on other acquisitions which have been announced previously and that are due to complete in the next two months.

It said that upon completion of its deals, the portfolio will comprise seven portfolios or a total of 77 office, industrial, retail, multi-family, leisure and mixed-use properties spread across 6 million square feet in the UK and Ireland. It will also own one loan portfolio comprising five real estate loans under receivership secured against five high-tech properties located across England, and a direct minority interest in a syndicated loan secured against 1.56 million square feet of 20 retail assets, with 18 of them located in Northern Ireland and the remaining two being in Scotland.

Kennedy Wilson expanded to Europe in 2011 and now has a team of 50 and around $5 billion of assets under management. The IPO of Kennedy Wilson Real Estate Europe raised $1.7 billion with £122 million of that coming from its parent group. At the time, Ricks said: Our investment in Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc represents the single largest investment in the company’s history. Our operating platforms in the UK, Ireland and Spain will look to leverage this capital to take advantage of the current opportunity set in Europe.”