Sunday, May 27, 2007

Telekom Malaysia Berhad Proposes $320 Million Islamic Sale Leaseback Transaction of Four Office Buildings

Bursa Malaysia Web Site - May 25, 2007

Telekom Malaysia Berhad wishes to announce a proposed Islamic Sale and Leaseback ransaction involving the issuance of up to RM1,100 million ($320 Million) Islamic Trust Certificates ('Sukuk'), details of which are set out below.

The Proposed Transaction involves the sale of four (4) of its property assets at a total value of up to RM1,100 million to Menara ABS Berhad, a special purpose vehicle. The Properties identified are known as Menara TM, Menara Celcom, Cyberjaya Complex and Wisma TM Taman Desa. Subsequent to the sale, the Properties will then be leased back to TM on a portfolio basis, under the Ijarah principle, for a lease term of up to fifteen (15) years.

The Proposed Transaction will involve a true sale transaction with respect to the Properties and an operating lease treatment with respect to the lease arrangement while allowing TM and its group of companies ("TM Group") uninterrupted occupation of its existing premises.

The Proposed Transaction, which will be implemented under the Securities Commission's Guidelines on the Offering of Asset-Backed Securities read together with the Guidelines on the Offering of Islamic Securities, will facilitate the issuance of three (3) different classes of Sukuk in tranches by Menara ABS Berhad. The funds to be raised from the issuance of such Sukuk shall be utilized by Menara ABS Berhad to pay TM for the purchase of the Properties.

The Proposed Transaction will facilitate TM's implementation of its strategy to monetize its non-core assets with a view to further improving operating financial ratios while focusing on its core business of providing telecommunication services.

TM will have the right of first refusal to either re-purchase the Properties or continue with the lease on new terms to be negotiated. Citibank Berhad has been appointed as the Principal Adviser/Lead Arranger for the Proposed Transaction.

An application has been submitted to the Securities Commission for approval of the Proposed Transaction. The Proposal is expected to be completed within six (6) months from the date of the Securities Commission's approval for the Proposed Transaction. Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Athens Stock Exchange HQ Sold for EUR 47Million

PropertyEU - May 21, 2007

Babis Vovos International Construction (BVIC) has sold a 12,000 m2 office building development in downtown Athens to German real estate company KanAm Grund for just over EUR 47 mln. The property is part of a three-building office complex under construction on an 8,000 m2 plot.

BVIC, Greece's largest listed property company by market capitalisation, was awarded the development in September 2005, following an open bid process held by the Greek stock exchange operator Hellenic Exchanges. BVIC is developing an office building of 6,700 m2, where all of the stock exchange's departments will relocate. BVIC is the owner of the two other buildings, the 12,000 m2 building and a 5,000 m2 property that has already been sold to insurance company Allianz for EUR 17.5 mln. The sale agreement with KanAm Grund was signed on the 18 May 2007 and the building is to be delivered on the 31 October 2007. Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Superquinn Completes €142 Million Sale Leaseback of Six Supermarkets in Ireland

Independent - May 18 2007

Superquinn, the grocer which was purchased by Select Retail Holdings in 2005, has raised €142.5m on a sale and leaseback deal on six stores that will fund further expansion. The company said yesterday that Friends First F&C has agreed an investment of €142.5m in the Superquinn property portfolio.

The cash investment, which is spread across several sites, has allowed a significant reduction in the debt incurred by Select Retail Holdings in the purchase of Superquinn. Select Retail Holdings said this is an important step in enabling the substantial expansion planned for the Superquinn business over the next three years. Superquinn plans to refurbish five more sites and to open three new stores, at a cost of €60m for the year ending April 2008.

Superquinn was founded in 1960 by Feargal Quinn and family. The company currently has 21 stores. In 2005, the company was purchased by Irish consortium Select Retail Holdings, for €420m. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Capio AB Completes £686 Million Sale Leaseback of 21 UK Hospitals

The Times - May 15, 2007

A consortium including HBOS and Sir Tom Hunter, the property tycoon, has paid £686 million for a portfolio of 21 private hospitals from the healthcare operator Capio AB.

The Prestbury consortium is backed by Sir Tom’s West Coast Capital, the Icelandic investor Baugur and Bank of Scotland. The group said that the hospitals would be leased back to Capio on 30-year leases, with an initial rent of £39.5 million a year (i.e. a 5.75% cap rate.)

Capio AB was purchased last year by a private equity consortium comprising Apax Partners, Nordic Capital and Apax France. They have placed a sale and leaseback of the group’s property portfolio at the heart of their future plans for the Sweden-based company, which also operates hospitals in France, Germany, Spain and across Scandinavia.

The deal represents the latest change in the rapidly evolving British hospitals market. BUPA, the UK healthcare giant, is selling its own portfolio of 26 private hospitals for what some observers have estimated could fetch as much as £1.4 billion.

Prestbury has completed a number of similar sale and leaseback deals recently. They include 220 pubs from Spirit Group, now Punch Taverns, for £500 million, as well as two portfolios of hotels from Travelodge for £527 million and the Bank of Scotland’s London HQ for £140 million.

HBOS has worked with Sir Tom on a number of deals, including bids for McCarthy & Stone, the retirement homes company, House of Fraser, the retailer, and Wyevale, the garden centre chain. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Nomura Seeking $466 Million For Sale Leaseback of London HQ

Bloomberg - May 8, 2007

Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest securities firm, put its London headquarters building on sale for at least 234 million pounds ($466 million).

Real estate consultant Drivers Jonas said in an e-mailed statement today that it has been hired to sell No.1 St. Martin's Le Grand, an office tower containing 275,000 square feet of space near St. Paul's Cathedral, which Nomura intends to lease back.

Nomura is the latest firm to plan a sale and leaseback of its headquarters to take advantage of escalating prices for office buildings in central London. Spanish real estate company Metrovacesa SA set a record for a single building in the U.K. last month, when it bought HSBC Holdings Plc's Docklands headquarters for 1.09 billion pounds.

Details of Nomura's initial investment in the building weren't immediately available. Annual rental income would represent about 4.75 percent of the initial asking price and will grow 3 percent annually, Drivers Jonas said.

Central London offices were the best-performing sector of the U.K. commercial real estate market in the first quarter, as a shortage of available space lifted rents by almost 5 percent for new or freshly refurbished properties, CB Richard Ellis said. In the City of London district, the main financial district, rents have climbed 19 percent to 59 pounds a square foot by the end of March from a year earlier. Sphere: Related Content

Monday, May 07, 2007

Deutsche Bank Enters $1.18 Billion Sale Leaseback of Manhattan HQ

Commercial Property News - May 4, 2007

The Paramount Group has purchased 60 Wall Street from Deutsche Bank for $1.18 billion in a 15 year sale leaseback agreement. The 47-story, 1.6-million-square-foot building sold for $750 per square foot, a record for lower Manhattan. The sale price is nearly double the $610 million Deutsche Bank paid for the building in 2001. Deutsche Bank will keep its North American headquarters in the 19-year-old building as part of the agreement.

"The sale enables us to redeploy our capital to our operating businesses while realizing an attractive return for our shareholders," a Deutsche Bank spokesperson told CPN today.

The sale of the property is expected to produce a pretax gain of approximately $435 million in 2007. Deutsche Bank's Commercial Real Estate Group is providing financing to Paramount for the transaction. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. acted as advisor to the bank and CB Richard Ellis Inc. provided real estate consulting services.

Built in 1988 by JP Morgan, it served as that company's headquarters until its merger with Chase. Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, May 05, 2007

84 Lumber Completes $200 million Sale Leaseback of 53 Wholesale/Retail Sites

84 Lumber Web Site - May 2, 2007

Spirit Finance Corporation, a real estate investment trust focused on single tenant real estate, today announced that it completed a $200 million sale/leaseback transaction with affiliates of 84 Lumber Company, the nation’s leading privately held materials and services supplier to professional builders.

The acquisition was partially funded with a $150 million long-term fixed-rate mortgage note financed through Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc. and secured by the real estate assets acquired. Spirit purchased 53 wholesale/retail lumber sales and supply centers and one truss manufacturing plant. A subsidiary of 84 Lumber Company has agreed to lease the properties for an initial period of 20 years, subject to a master lease with a multi-windowed purchase option and multiple renewal options. Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, May 03, 2007

HSBC Completes $2.2 Billion Sale Leaseback of London HQ

Bloomberg - April 30, 2007

The London headquarters of HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank by market value, was bought by Spanish real estate company Metrovacesa SA for 1.09 billion pounds ($2.2 billion), a record for a U.K. building.

HSBC will remain in the 45-story tower at 8 Canada Square, in the Canary Wharf business district, according to a statement today. About 8,000 people work in the building, which was designed by Norman Foster and has 1.1 million square feet of space.

"People are prepared to pay a premium to get into the London market, even when some are calling the top of the market," said Sarah Bate, head of central London research at Knight Frank LLP.

Central London is now the world's most expensive city in which to lease an office and, according to an estimate by Bate, investors bought a record 15.3 billion pounds of properties in the area last year. A shortage of space is pushing up rents as financial-services firms hire more people.

The previous record for the acquisition of a U.K. office building was the 690 million pounds paid in 2003 by Royal Bank of Scotland Plc for Citigroup Inc.'s London headquarters. That property is on the opposite side of the same square at Canary Wharf development as the HSBC Tower.

HSBC agreed to sell and lease back the building from Madrid-based Metrovacesa for the next 20 years, paying an initial annual rent of 43.5 million pounds, or 3.99 percent of the purchase price. HSBC's long-term debt is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA- by Standard & Poor's.

Rents for new or freshly renovated offices in the City of London district, London's main financial services center, last year rose by more than 18 percent to 55 pounds a square foot, according to Knight Frank.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., the world's biggest brokerage, is considering a sale and leaseback of its London headquarters building to take advantage of record property prices in the city. GIC Real Estate Private Ltd., the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore, may buy the building for about 600 million pounds, the Financial Times reported earlier this month. Neither Merrill Lynch nor GIC would comment on the report.

In February, the London office tower dubbed ``the Gherkin'' was bought by IVG Immobilien AG and Evans Randall Investment Management Ltd. for 600 million pounds. The Gherkin was also designed by Foster.

CB Richard Ellis Inc. and Freshfields LLC advised HSBC on the sale of the property. Sphere: Related Content

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