The pan-European real estate fund manager said that it continued to experience strong investor interest in stabilised, income producing assets.,

'Europa Capital has continued to deliver a high volume of successful acquisitions and disposals for its value-add clients and has also progressed the diversification of its investment management activities for those clients that are also looking to invest in core and core-plus European real estate investment strategies,' said Jason Oram, partner at Europa Capital.

Top Investors
The 2017 volume is only marginally lower than the €1.13 bn of transactions the year before. The 2016 volume was split between €698 mln of acquisitions and €437 mln of disposals.

The 2016 performance placed Europa Capital in 73rd place in PropertyEU's Top 100 Investors, Deals and Dealmakers ranking, published in March 2017. 

The next edition of the Top 100 Investors ranking, based on 2017 transaction activity, is published in May 2018.

Net-seller in 2017
Milestones in 2017 for the fund manager included more than 50% of invested capital returned in its most recently invested value-add fund, Europa Fund IV.

On a strategic level, Europa Capital continued the diversification of its investment management platform through the acquisition of a UK student housing portfolio, for a core-plus return strategy, and the creation of a dedicated specialist PBSA team, Europa Generation.

Europa Capital also continued to grow its UK real estate debt fund business, is expanding its real estate senior debt lending activities into continental Europe, and made its first investment for a separate account ‘income plus’ programme.

The majority of Europa Capital’s disposals were made from Europa Fund IV, but Europa also made good progress towards finalising the sale of its few remaining investments in Europa Fund III.

Significant acquisitions were also completed in 2017 on behalf of Europa Fund V, including transactions intended to capitalise on the office recovery in the Munich and Paris office markets, which are both characterised by limited supply and strengthening occupier interest.

Key deals this year include:

· February 2017: Disposal of the 16,800 m2 Cubus office building and adjacent hotel in Dusseldorf for €58.4 mln;

· May 2017: Acquisition of Le Semaphore, an 11,500 m2 office building situated on the banks of the River Seine in Levallois-Perret to the West of Paris for €63 mln; (pictured)

· May 2017: Acquisition of 1,705 bed UK portfolio of purpose built student accommodation in six regional cities for £158 mln;

· June 2017: Acquisition of the 42,000 m2 Telefonica Germany headquarters office building near the Olympiapark in Munich;

· July 2017: Disposal of three office buildings in Budapest totalling 27,450 m2 for €61 mln;

· September 2017: Disposal of over 110,000 m2 of retail warehouse parks located in the UK and Netherlands for in excess of €180 mln; and

· December 2017: Disposal of two office sites in Paris, one of which was previously Renault's riverfront convention and exhibition centre.