Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Mikeva Completes Sale Leaseback of Seven Nursing Homes in Finland

PropertyEU - May 25, 2009

Mikeva has sold seven residential care properties to Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company in a sale-and-leaseback transaction for an undisclosed amount. The care homes are located in Kaskinen, Kotka, Vaasa, Teuva, Oulu and Haukipudas.

Mikeva is one of the largest social care services providers in Finland with over 600 end-customers. All properties are under development and will be completed within the coming two years. The first of these properties will be completed in May 2009 in Kaskinen. Mikeva has signed long-term lease agreements with all the properties.

The total leasable area of the properties is approximately 13,500 m² accommodating approximately 300 customers when completed. The care homes offer residential services for mental health patients and the elderly.

Leimdörfer acted as financial adviser to Mikeva in the transaction. Sphere: Related Content

Monday, May 18, 2009

Pfizer Completes Sale Leaseback of Industrial Facility in Germany

PropertyEU - May 14, 2009

German property investors Harder and Partners have bought pharmaceuticals firm Pfizer's premises in Karlsruhe for an undisclosed amount as part of a sale-and-leaseback deal which includes 200,000 m2 of industrial space and 90,000 m2 of derelict land. Pfizer will lease back the buildings and distribution space for an unspecified period.

The Pfizer site is located in the Hagsfeld industrial area of Karlsruhe. Sphere: Related Content

NH Hotels Seeking EUR 300 Million Sale Leaseback of Hotel Portfolio

PropertyEU - May 15, 2009

Spanish hotel group NH Hoteles has unveiled plans to sell EUR 300 mln worth of hotel properties after its loss widened in the first quarter of 2009 to EUR 39.2 mln. The properties will continue to be operated through a sale-and-leaseback agreement or a management contract. The company also said it will seek to raise EUR 197 mln of fresh capital through the issue of 99 million of new shares with a value of EUR 2 per share.

The company currently owns 349 hotels across 22 countries worldwide and an additional 55 in its development pipeline. It has debt of around EUR 700 mln. Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Caixa Catalunya Agrees to EUR 183 Million Sale Leaseback of 146 Bank Branches Across Spain

PropertyEU - May 14, 2009

Spanish bank Caixa Catalunya has sold 146 bank branches and office buildings across Spain to a number of investors including family-owned investment groups. The bank will lease the assets back for a rental term of 20 years, and retains an option to buy back the assets after this period. Caixa Catalunya said it is making a profit of some EUR 54 mln on the deal, which totals EUR 183 mln.

The crown jewel of the bank's portfolio, its Recoletos head office in Madrid, was sold to Spanish investor Via Celere for EUR 16 mln. The lender has a network of over 1,200 branches across Spain and hopes to sell off another 800 properties through a similar sale-and-leaseback deal in the coming months. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, May 15, 2009

Sale Leasebacks Brew Anew

Wall Street Journal - May 13, 2009

Corporate sale-and-lease-back deals came to a virtual halt in Europe in the first quarter as property investment dried up, but signs of life may be emerging as cash-strapped companies look for new sources of financing.

Renault SA, the French car maker, is exploring the potential sale of property it owns and which is reported to be valued at as much as €1 billion ($1.36 billion). Eroski, a cooperative retail chain with more than 1,000 stores across Spain, is exploring the sale of as many as 150 supermarkets that could generate proceeds of as much as €300 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

"We are considering selling offices and commercial property as a sale-and-lease-back," says Renault spokeswoman Gita Roux. "Interest rates are high and it's hard to get credit, so property sales are part of a broader plan to improve our cash flow."

Ms. Roux wouldn't comment on how much Renault expects to raise through property sales, saying it depended on the price the company could achieve in the market.

Eroski is being advised by Cushman & Wakefield; neither Cushman nor Eroski would comment.

In a sale-and-lease-back arrangement the owner of a property -- typically a corporation or a government agency -- sells the property it is occupying and leases it back, usually on a long lease of 20 years or more. The advantage for the company selling is that it gets cash that it can reinvest in its business or use to lower debt, can stay in the property, and doesn't have to pay the money back.

As the recession grinds on and debt remains expensive and hard to come by, companies are again considering using their property to raise cash. But deals have been hard to do because of the lack of debt financing and the gap between what sellers hope to gain from a sale and what buyers are willing to pay.

Now, that buyer-seller gap is narrowing and there is also a greater willingness on the part of some buyers to pay with cash now with the hope of raising debt later.

One such buyer is W.P. Carey & Co., a New York investment group that in April paid cash for the space that New York Times Co. owns in its headquarters in midtown Manhattan. W.P. Carey is prepared to do similar all-cash deals in Europe.

"We're doing deals, but there is a premium to that because we're taking on the risk, hoping that we will later be able to get mortgage financing," says Edward LaPuma, head of W.P. Carey's international business.

In Europe, advisers on sale-and-lease-back transactions say chief financial officers from London to Lisbon have been comparing the costs of raising finance through issuing new shares, bonds or by turning their own property into cash.

With stock prices down, share issuance is expensive because investors, fearing stocks could keep falling, are demanding hefty discounts.

Bonds are costly because yield premiums over government paper have widened over the past year, and investors are shying away from corporate debt from all but the highest investment-grade issuers. Banks that used to issue mortgages with just 20% equity are now demanding as much 45%.

"If you're considering a sale-and-lease-back, it's not about where we are in the real-estate cycle," says Matthew Stone, head of occupier strategies for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Cushman & Wakefield. "It's about the need to raise capital and finding the least expensive way to do it."

A number of large deals were done last year. Caixa Galicia sold a portfolio valued at €250 million, said property consultants CB Richard Ellis. Banco Popular sold buildings in Madrid and Barcelona, raising €127 million. Banco Santander raised €4.4 billion with the sale of its Madrid headquarters, 1,152 branches and 10 individual buildings, and French bank BNP Paribas sold its Paris headquarters for €250 million.

With property investment down sharply, sale-and-lease-back deals screeched to a halt this year. But advisers are saying momentum could resume in the next few months.

CB Richard Ellis has deals in the works valued at more than €4.1 billion with clients in financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, research and development and technology, and retail, says John Wilson, executive director of corporate services. That compares to about €3 billion during the same period last year, he says.

There is a flip side to the sale-and-lease-back scenario. Low property prices create an opportunity for companies or public administrations that have enough cash on hand to buy the buildings they occupy from cash-strapped landlords.

In December, London's Metropolitan Police bought New Scotland Yard from the British REIT Land Securities PLC. And in April, British Land Co. sold an office building on 2-3 Triton Square in London to the building's main tenant, Abbey National PLC.

"We are talking to a number of large corporations seeking to buy their buildings," says Matthew Richards, director of corporate capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle in London. Sphere: Related Content

Monday, May 11, 2009

Eroski Seeking EUR 300 Million Sale Leaseback of Supermarkets Across Spain

Property Week - May 8, 2009

Spanish retailer prepares sale and leaseback of up to 150 supermarkets.

Eroski is preparing to sell and lease back between 100 and 150 supermarkets, which could net the Spanish retailer more than €300m.

The supermarket operator is approaching a range of investors about the portfolio, which consists of ‘urban supermarkets’ in Spanish city centres.

It is thought that the portfolio, which does not include any hypermarkets, could be broken up into smaller lot sizes, which would be easier to finance and could attract a variety of buyers such as institutional and private investors.

The final lease terms that Eroski will offer to investors are likely to be long institutionally-friendly leases of between 20 and 25 years.

Large sale and leasebacks are becoming increasingly common in Spain as occupiers try to release equity from their property portfolio to create cash pools to carry out corporate acquisitions.

Eroski in particular is thought to be keen to raise cash to reduce its debt levels after the purchase of the Caprabo supermarket chain in 2007.

It also wants to raise funds in readiness of future acquisitions as it seeks to increase its market share in Spain. It is already one of the top three hypermarket operators in the country and the number one supermarket operator in the Catalunya region.

Any potential transaction with Eroski would be structured as a straight sale and leaseback rather than a joint venture partnership.

It already has one joint venture partnership with Sol Zakay’s Topland, which in November last year bought a 15-strong retail portfolio from Eroski in Spain’s biggest hypermarket sale-and-leaseback transaction. Eroski signed 25-year leases with fixed rental increases.

Topland paid €361m – a yield of around 6% – for the portfolio, comprising 13 hypermarkets and two shopping centres in the Basque area of Spain. It provided equity for 30% of the first purchase and the remaining 70% comes from a consortium of banks: La Caixa, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banco De Sabadell, Banco Espanol De Credito, Banco De Vasconia and Caja Madrid.

The transaction with Topland was structured as the first phase of a potential three-part sale-and-leaseback agreement between the two parties, in which Topland would buy more than 50 Eroski properties.

Spain’s property market, which has been badly hit by the global financial crisis, has experienced a rapid repricing similar to that in the UK and is attracting investors who want to buy at the bottom of the market.

Cushman & Wakefield advised Eroski on its transaction with Topland and it is thought that Cushman has now been instructed to act for Eroski on an exclusive mandate.

All parties declined to comment. Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Carrefour Seeking £1 Billion in Several Retail Store Sale Leaseback Transactions

Property Week - May 8, 2009

French supermarket giant Carrefour is preparing to sell a significant part of its property portfolio as it goes into expansion mode.

Carrefour Property, which controls nearly two-thirds of the retailer’s €14bn property portfolio, is preparing to sell properties in €200m and €500m lot sizes. The retailer said it would aim to sell the properties to investors in a long-term sale-and-leaseback transaction.

Carrefour has historically raised equity from its property portfolio and in 2008 planned to list its property arm on the stock exchange as a separate entity but plans were abandoned because of the downturn.

Sources said Carrefour is looking to raise at least €1bn from the strategy.
It is thought that Carrefour investors Colony Capital and Groupe Arnault are supportive of the plans. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, May 08, 2009

Credit Suisse Seeking £147 Million Sale Leaseback of Canary Wharf Tower

Property Week - May 6, 2009

Credit Suisse has instructed CB Richard Ellis to market the sale and leaseback of 20 Columbus Courtyard in Canary Wharf with a price tag of around £147m.

This equates to a yield of 6.25%, or around £37.50/sq ft. It will rent the building back for 25 years with an annual Retail Prices Index-linked rent, set with a ‘cap and collar’ of 4% and 1.5%. Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, May 02, 2009

YRC Negotiates $351 Million Sale Leaseback of Trucking Facilities Across US

CoStar Group - April 29, 2009

YRC Inc. and USF Reddaway Inc., subsidiaries of YRC Worldwide Inc., continue to shed their ownership in trucking facilities across the country.

The two trucking transportation groups entered into another real estate sales contract with Estes Express Lines to sell and simultaneously lease back more trucking facilities throughout the United States.

The aggregate purchase price for the subject facilities is $32 million and initial annual lease payments would be $2.9 million in total.

The new Estes contracts are in addition to similar deals struck earlier this year for $122 million.

Separately, YRC, USF Holland Inc. and New Penn Motor Express Inc., also each YRC Worldwide subsidiaries agreed to sell and leaseback additional facilities to unidentified investors. The aggregate purchase price is $70 million and initial annual lease payments to be $6.1 million in total.

Both deals include a few facilities that were originally a part of another transaction with a different buyer.

Previously YRC and USF Reddaway also struck a deal to sell and leaseback facilities with NATMI Truck Terminals LLC. That deal was amended so that deals could be struck with the latest buyers. Originally to total $150.4 million, the amended deal will total $127 million, of which $111 million in deals closed in the first quarter of 2009.

The company expects to close on all of the new and remaining deals this quarter. Sphere: Related Content

Experian Agrees to $27 Million Sale Leaseback Office Building Near Chicago

Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily - April 29, 2009

A New York investment firm has a contract to buy a northwest suburban office building from Experian PLC in a roughly $27-million sale/leaseback deal, in a bid by the credit reporting agency to raise cash and cut costs.

Credit reporting agency Experian has a contract to sell and lease back this building in Schaumburg.

The transaction could be one of the few deals to close this year in the suburban office market, which has come to nearly a standstill because of banks' tighter lending standards, sellers' reluctance to cut prices and buyers' concern about rising vacancy rates.

Experian owns a two-building complex totaling 296,000 square feet at 955 American Lane in Schaumburg. The company, which is advised by real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., has agreed to sell the larger of the two structures, an 189,000-square-foot building called the East Building, to U.S. Realty Advisors LLC, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

U.S. Realty last month formed a company called XP Property LLC, to hold title to the building, Illinois corporate records show. The price is about $27 million or $28 million, sources say. Experian has agreed to sign a long-term lease for the building, which was built in 1999, sources say.

Experian’s strong financial performance may have made the transaction attractive to U.S. Realty, a low-profile firm that specializes in single-tenant properties. Dublin, Ireland-based Experian’s revenue rose 18.6% to $4.1 billion during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, compared to the previous year. North America accounted for about half of the company’s revenue.

Jack Genende, U.S. Realty’s chief financial officer, and Grant Freeman, managing director in Jones Lang’s corporate capital markets group who is based in Southern California, declined to comment. A Schaumburg-based spokesman for Experian also declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the company is looking for tenants to lease space in its West Building, a 107,000-square-foot structure built in 1985, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. Experian plans to vacate that building. Sphere: Related Content

Friday, May 01, 2009

Burlington Coat Factory Seeking Sale Leaseback of Nine Stores Across US

Jones Lang LaSalle Web Site - April 28, 2009

Jones Lang LaSalle is currently marketing a 715,000-square-foot portfolio of retail assets for sale and leaseback by Burlington Coat Factory. Burlington Coat Factory will leaseback the nine properties, located in some of the strongest retail markets in the United States, for a minimum of 15 years. The properties are available for purchase either individually or as a portfolio.

Leading the Jones Lang LaSalle team on this assignment is Managing Director Bruce Westwood-Booth and Vice President Ben Herrig.

“These assets are strategically located in the strongest retail real estate markets in the country, and should appeal to a wide scope of national and international investors seeking to purchase well-established, high-quality retail locations providing long-term cash flow,” said Mr. Westwood-Booth.

This portfolio of nine retail assets includes a mix of regional mall anchor locations, power center/neighborhood anchor sites and stand alone stores. They are located in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Broward County, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Orlando and two locations in and around Phoenix. Burlington Coat Factory plans to enter into 15-year, absolute triple-net leases with two percent annual escalations at each location. All of the stores have been updated or renovated within the past few years and are strong performers for the company. Sphere: Related Content

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