AREA Property Sells 35% Stake to National Australia Bank
Bloomberg Businessweek reports: National Australia Bank (NAB) bought a 35% stake in real estate fund manager AREA Property Partners as the US firm pursues funding to increase its global property investments. National Australia, the country’s fourth-largest lender, had been seeking “a top-tier global real estate investment manager,” according to their CEO, Garry Mulcahy.
AREA, a real estate fund manager which has invested in New York’s Time Warner Center, the Pascal Tower in Paris, and the St Katherine Dock complex in London, is seeking to increase its real estate holdings in the early stages of an improving market. A recovery is “...well under way in most dominant global real estate markets” and global direct investment in commercial real estate may surge up by 20 to 25% this year according to broker Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). “We think that there will be opportunities to acquire some smaller REITs,” AREA’s CEO Lee Neibart said. “There’ll be an opportunity to acquire larger distressed assets.”
According to Peter Slatin, editorial director at Real Capital Analytics, the deal is a sign that non-US investors are seeing recovery in the US commercial property market. It may also be the start of a spate of international partnerships, he said. “You have a company that now has global capital seeking global opportunities. That’s what’s most exciting,” Slatin said. “We will see more cross-border capital partnerships along with cross-border acquisitions.”
View the full article on Bloomberg Businessweek: AREA Property Sells 35% Stake to National Australia Bank
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Posted by: Matthew Stone