OSLO-Private equity firm Madison International, which focuses on acquisitions of minority stakes in class A assets, has done just that with a nine-story office building here for $71 million (US). The firm has picked up a 35% piece of the Statoil complex here.
The 721,000-square-foot asset is fully leased on a long-term basis to Statoil. Closed in the last days of 2012, the acquisition rank as the second largest in Norway for 2012. In a recent interview with Real Estate Forum, Ronald M. Dickerman, president of Madison, explained that the firm is cautious in its approach to European real estate. In the overheated London market, for instance, there's a serious disconnect between risk and return.
“We haven't seen the kind of rental-rate recovery that would be consistent with the type of pricing investors are asking for in prime office buildings," he says. "We've also seen quite a few fractional holders who are looking for liquidity, and we're actively pursuing them.”
Elsewhere across the pond the financial upheaval is creating opportunity, but “we're raising the bar on anything we do in Europe. We're investing on the basis that the euro will survive, but I can't guarantee every country will remain a euro-based country.”
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John Salustri
John Salustri has covered the commercial real estate industry for nearly 25 years. He was the founding editor of GlobeSt.com, and is a four-time recipient of the Excellence in Journalism award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.
