There were about £100 mln of indirect transactions and £600 mln of direct transactions in the UK last year, with a further £130 mln under offer.

In a statement, DTZ Investors said its continues to focus on core locations with strong growth potential and asset management prospects. Notable acquisitions included The Printworks, Manchester (£108 mln), Zennor Industrial Estate, Balham (£30.1 mln) and Kingsditch Retail Park, Cheltenham (£42.4 mln).

Tony Brothwell, senior director at DTZ Investors commented, 'I am pleased to report another successful year of allocating our clients’ capital in a series of focused investments in a number of excellent quality leisure, industrial and prime retail properties. The fact that we have achieved this level of investment whilst maintaining our long term outperformance track record is testament to our robust investment philosophy and to our active asset management approach to real estate.'

'We enter 2018 with confidence in our existing portfolios and with significant firepower to enable us to further enhance the quality and level of returns from these portfolios,' Brothwell added.

Markets & sectors
DTZ Investors continued to increase exposure to its favoured markets and investment styles through further investment into multi-let industrial estates, and retail assets benefitting from affluent catchment areas. 

For example; Motorway Industrial Estate, Stevenage (£7.1 mln), Pier Road Industrial Estate, Feltham (£12.3 mln), Midsussex Retail Park, Burgess Hill (£17.3 mln) and 55/57B Clarence Street, Kingston-upon-Thames (£18.1 mln).

Completed sales over the year successfully took advantage of continued investor demand for good quality London assets and the industrial sector; for example Folgate Court, Folgate Street, E1 (£24.5 mln), 110-114 Middlesex Street, E1 (£35.75 mln), 19-21 Great Tower Street, EC3 (£13.6 mln) and The MXL Centre, Banbury (£12.8 mln). 

Increased exposure to alternative sectors was secured in 2017 with the acquisition of a hotel and retail asset in Maidenhead (£11.5 mln), a £30 mln residential forward-funding in Manchester, the acquisition of leisure assets The Printworks, Manchester (£108 mln) and The Buttermarket Centre, Ipswich (£54.5 mln).

DTZ Investors also made its first investment into a residential debt fund in addition to advising on a $300 mln commitment to a global real estate fund.

Top Investors
DTZ Investors ended the year with £5.7 bn of assets under management in the UK, with a further £3bn across Europe. The business has ongoing requirements for real estate investments across a wide variety of clients, with over £400 mln immediately available to invest.

The 2017 UK transaction figure is a 57% incresase on the €602 mln of deals the year before. The 2016 volume placed DTZ Investors in 153rd place in the Top Investors ranking, based on 2016 deal volumes, published in March 2017.

The next edition of the Top 100 Investors deals and dealmakers' ranking is published in May 2018.

Image: Printworks, Manchester