Lend Lease Fund Buys Banimmo in Belgium

LUXEMBOURG-The Luxembourg-based Lend Lease Global Properties fund has bought the Belgian property company Banimmo in a joint venture with the existing management for €270 million ($270 million). The vendor was EPP Belend Sarl, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pricoa-managed European Property Partners limited partnership and Dexia Banque Belgique.

Banimmo’s current portfolio comprises 21 investment properties totalling 2.3 million sf in Brussels and Antwerp, and eight development sites in Belgium and Luxembourg.

James Quille, Chairman of Lend Lease Global Properties said: “The acquisition of Banimmo is an exciting complement to Lend Lease Global Properties’ European investment portfolio. This acquisition adds another dimension to our current portfolio, offering strong current cash flow with growth potential via the development pipeline, in a market set to experience strong demand arising from the expansion plans of the European Union government infrastructure in Brussels.

The deal means Lend Lease Global Properties has now completed its investment phase. The fund has invested $1.5 billion in the UK; Belgium; Germany; Spain; Hong Kong; Japan and Korea, and 80% of the assets are invested in the European Union. Quille said: “The strong liquidity in these markets and market cycle characteristics lead us to view Europe as offering better risk adjusted returns than most Asian markets at this stage in the cycle. However, we see the window of opportunity closing fast in Europe with large amounts of capital seeking investments and, going forward, Asia is likely to offer more opportunities in the coming years.”

He said the success of the fund meant that Lend Lease was likely to launch a second global property fund, again targeting Europe and Asia.