Deirdre Hipwell Editorial
Property Week
Deirdre left Property Week in August 2010 to join the Independent on Sunday. Deirdre is an Irish-Zimbabwean and was born and educated in the capital Harare before spending five years in the US completing a BA degree in History with first class honours. Before becoming a journalist Deirdre worked for a year as a paralegal at a Chicago law firm and has also worked at UK childrens charity NSPCC in the property department. She worked at Property Week for four years and has written for its features and global sections before becoming deputy news editor in 2007. She covers the City of London, London regeneration, government, politics, public policy, residential and Ireland.
Stories by this contributor.
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Bishops Square stake on market
13 September 2010
Investors are being quietly approached by the State of Oman about purchasing a stake in the large Bishops Square complex near London’s Spitalfields market, the Independent on Sunday reported yesterday.
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ING trust reshapes for recession
23 July 2010
Flexibility of Channel Islands-listed trust has helped its survival
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Housebuilders, investors and coalition can be BES mates
16 July 2010
Reintroduction of business expansion schemes could plug funding black hole in public sector building, says adviser
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DTZ and GVA Grimley’s royal appointment
9 July 2010
RBS awards bulk of UK property mandate to DTZ, and GVA will manage portfolio
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What banks can learn from 1970s and 1990s
09 July 2010
BNP Paribas Real Estate compares past recessions for direction on the latest
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Carlyle completes £671m White Tower purchase
8 July 2010
Carlyle Group has exchanged contracts for to buy six central London properties, which were formerly part of the portfolio securing the White Tower 2006-3 commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) vehicle.
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Nigel Brown leaves St Martins
8 July 2010
Nigel Brown, managing director of property investment and asset management corporation St Martins, will be leaving the company at the end of July.
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Grosvenor in early Liverpool One refinancing talks
8 July 2010
Grosvenor is in early talks with the four banks which helped fund its Liverpool One retail development about a potential refinancing of the large retail scheme.
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Gatehouse Bank buys BT HQ in Leeds
5 July 2010
Gatehouse Bank has bought One Sovereign Street, the HQ of BT’s regional headquarters in Leeds, for £40.1m in one of the biggest deals in Yorkshire this year.
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Rockspring buys in Midtown
2 July 2010
Rockspring Property Investment Managers has bought Fox Court in London’s midtown or around £52m reflecting a yield of 7.5%.
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Tate Britain plans get go ahead
2 July 2010
Westminster City Council has approved plans for a significant refurbishment of one of the world’s most famous art galleries The Tate Britain.
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Chinese checks out Tower 42
02 July 2010
Hong Kong billionaire’s Chinese Estates leads £300m bid for trophy City of London skyscraper
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Advisers bullish as principals grin and bear it
02 July 2010
Latest Lloyds Banking Group shows polarised outlooks as values plateau
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GVA opens financial arm
02 July 2010
Property consultancy firm forms specialist financial advisory team to keep up with competitors
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Pain in Spain falls on Sanahujas
02 July 2010
Family’s Sacresa property company files for administration
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Barclays Corporate backs Liverpool’s Iliad Group
30 June 2010
Barclays Corporate has provided senior debt finance to Liverpool-based developer the Iliad Group to develop a £38m student property development near Aston University in Birmingham.
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Hammerson buys Brookfield Europe’s stake in Cricklewood project
29 June 2010
Hammerson has bought Brookfield Europe’s stake in the £4.5bn Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration scheme in West London.
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Moorfield and Hines team up for £200m Brindleyplace bonanza
28 June 2010
Moorfield and Hines have teamed up to buy eight buildings at Birmingham’s Brindleyplace office scheme for just below £200m.
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LaSalle launches £500m UK fund
28 June 2010
LaSalle Investment Management has launched the LaSalle Balanced UK Property Fund for institutional investors.
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ING REIM Netherlands sells 13 offices
25 June 2010
ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM) has sold a portfolio of 13 office properties to a consortium of international investors.
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Alix brings American turnaround elixir to UK
25 June 2010
US outfit provides property companies with “smart” insolvency service
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Europe’s rough diamond can regain its lustre
25 June 2010
Henderson report predicts rental growth for continental retail sheds
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Investors get set at €380m Zaragoza mall
25 June 2010
Tommy Gallagher among consortium selling half-share in British Land scheme
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Investors splurge £420m in Square Mile
25 June 2010
Several City properties placed under offer as three bidders vie for Tower 42
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Triton sinks under water
25 June 2010
Receivers called in on City of London office block,Triton Court, owned by Glenn Maud’s Propinvest and Jack Petchey’s Incorporated
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White stake hands Petchey Foundation half of Galliard
25 June 2010
Investor shares ownership of housebuilder with managing director ahead of recovery
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SEB completes Condor House purchase
21 June 2010
SEB Asset Management has completed its purchase of Evans Randall’s Condor House in the City of London for its open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund.
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Dynamo Helios wins funding for Zagreb logistics park
18 June 2010
Distribution property company starts second phase of 1m sq ft development in Croatia’s capital
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Etesian wind blows through Levanter
18 June 2010
Distressed property experts merge
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Investors force Gale to address JER malaise
18 June 2010
Aviva, Henderson and Nomura in talks with chief to improve poor performance
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Oracle four go into liquidation
18 June 2010
MCR appointed to David Burke’s residential developer companies
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Wandsworth local plan gets Inspector's go-ahead
16 June 2010
A government inspector has given the all-clear to a central plank of Wandsworth council’s new planning framework which will guide development in the borough during the next 15 years.
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House prices edge up but HIPS abolition increases supply says RICS
15 June 2010
House prices edged up in May, but the government’s decision to abolish HIPS has given supply a boost, according to the RICS.
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TfL quits Shard as developers reach for the sky
14 June 2010
Transport for London will no longer become the first office tenant at the Shard at London Bridge as the developers look to position the building at the “top end” of the London market.
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Curtains for Deka at Drapers in City
11 June 2010
But fund manager “still in the market” in the UK
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L&G to review design of ‘Darth Vader’s Helmet’
11 June 2010
Architects Foster and Nouvel review City scheme design to “reflect market”
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Green and TPG go looking for deals with €900m fund
11 June 2010
Vernon’s company forms JV with private equity group to target bank-controlled assets in UK and Ireland
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Responsible auditing? Not on your nelly
11 June 2010
Head of Ireland’s “bad bank” tells auditors to face up to their actions
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Irish property community reels from 29 suicides in last 12 months
11 June 2010
As Ireland’s lenders take increasingly drastic action over troubled property loans, Deirdre Hipwell reports on the personal cost of the Irish and the UK banking crisis
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USS buys NatMags House
8 June 2010
Universities Superannuation Scheme has exchanged contracts to buy National Magazine House in London’s West End for £42m.
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Henderson completes first £90m closing of Central London office fund
8 June 2010
Henderson Global Investors has achieved a first closing of its Central London Office Fund II (“CLOF II”) raising £90m of capital from a number of European and North American institutional investors providing it with around £200m for acquisitions.
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Stephen Vernon in €900m tie up with US private equity group
8 June 2010
Stephen Vernon’s Green Property has teamed up with one of the world’s biggest US private equity groups TPG Capital setting up a joint venture to invest up to €900m of debt and equity in UK and Irish property.
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RICS: Ireland and the US set for biggest rise in distressed sales
7 June 2010
Irelandand the US will see the greatest rise in “distressed sales” of property according to a survey published today by the RICS.
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Vue Entertainment to open venue at Treasury Holding’s Ballymun scheme
7 June 2010
UKmultiplex cinema developer Vue Entertainment has agreed to open a venue in Treasury Holding’s Spring Cross development in Ballymun in Ireland.
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LDA launches search for Gallions Quarter developers
7 June 2010
The London Development Agency (LDA) has begun a search for development partners for a site in the Albert Basin in east London’s Royal Docks.
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Former Barratt chairman launches residential development company
4 June 2010
The former regional chairman of Barratt London & Thames Gateway Adam Lawrence has launched a new residential development and has secured £100m funding.
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£50bn of property loans breached or in default
21 May 2010
De Montfort research shows total lending continues to rise to £250bn
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Hatfield Philips strikes up B notes with dedicated team
21 May 2010
Special servicer sets up division to specialise in junior debt
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NAMA sets up Northern Irish advisory committee
19 May 2010
Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has set up a Northern Ireland advisory committee to advise it on loans secured against Northern Irish assets.
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Orchard Street buys 125 Wood Street
19 May 2010
Orchard Street Investment Management has bought 125 Wood Street in the City of London, from clients of Invesco Real Estate for £25.2m.
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Investor demand remains strong says Aviva Investors
14 May 2010
Investor demand for UK real estate assets remained strong during the first quarter and values rose for the third consecutive quarter, according to Aviva Investors.
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City agent Alastair Hilton to leave Cushman & Wakefield
14 May 2010
Cushman & Wakefield’s Alastair Hilton is leaving to join midtown specialist property services firm Farebrother.
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City market’s rebound is frothier than it first appears
14 May 2010
Adviser Equipe cites “cappuccino effect” and says recovery is down to only a handful of big deals
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German regulation proposals force funds into purgatory …
14 May 2010
KanAm and SEB suspend redemptions after government plans that would “wipe out” returns
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Heavyweights lunge for White Tower
14 May 2010
Bids for distressed CMBS portfolio due on Tuesday
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Matrix hires former JP Morgan Cazenove team
13 May 2010
Matrix has hired a former JP Morgan Cazenove senior investment banking team as it expands further into the real estate sector.
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Sterling real estate lending increases in first quarter
12 May 2010
First quarter 2010 Sterling bank lending to real estate improved to £3.2bn after failing during the two previous quarters, according to the latest Bank of England lending figures.
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CB Richard Ellis to sell 44 Halifax branches in Ireland
12 May 2010
CB Richard Ellis has been instructed to sell 44 Halifax branches across Ireland on behalf of Bank of Scotland (Ireland).
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Aerium refinances Turkish retail portfolio
11 May 2010
Fund manager Aerium has refinanced its Turkish retail portfolio, Bainbridge Capital Retail Properties, with Turkey’s largest merchant bank Akbank.
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Housing market improves in April says RICS
11 May 2010
"Spring optimism" helped lift the housing market despite election uncertainty, according to the RICS April UK Housing Market Survey.
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Genesis housing scheme in Stratford gets green light
11 May 2010
Genesis Housing Group has received planning permission for the construction of more than 700 canalside homes at its mixed-tenure scheme overlooking the Olympic site in Stratford, East London.
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Selective opportunities in the M25 office market says Knight Frank
11 May 2010
There are opportunities for selected growth in the M25 office market according to Knight Frank as the sectors which underpin take up in the region continue to grow.
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Europa Capital sells Hofgarten Palais in Düsseldorf
10 May 2010
Europa Capital has sold its Hofgarten Palais to German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate for around €60m.
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SEB in pole position on Condor House
7 May 2010
SEB is thought to be front runner to buy Evans Randall’s Condor House in the City of London.
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Almacantar is out and about in Paris and London
7 May 2010
Old university friends (left to right) Mike Hussey and Neil Jones have brass in pocket and are ready to spend
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Investor checks if it can still buy Burberry
7 May 2010
Sale of Scotch House on London’s Haymarket in doubt after Staplecross’s funding falls through
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Lloyds pulls plug on ex-Lazard City HQ site
7 May 2010
Ernst & Young appointed as administrator to company that owns 21 Moorfields
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S&P: April will be the cruellest month
7 May 2010
Standard & Poor’s predicts record number of loan maturities for April
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Strettons buys Ian Lerner & Co
5 May 2010
Strettons Chartered Surveyors has bought recovery and LPA receiver specialist Ian Lerner & Co.
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Rotherham closes in on new football stadium
5 May 2010
Plans for Rotherham United Football Club community stadium has taken a significant step forward after Rotherham Borough Council’s cabinet agreed the council could buy the land needed to accommodate the facility last week.
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British Land and Blackstone to develop building for UBS at Broadgate
4 May 2010
British Land and the Blackstone Group have said today they intend to build a new building at London's Broadgate for existing tenant UBS.
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Bratislava bonus for Ballymore as Eurovea opens
30 April 2010
Irish developer celebrates launch of €450m scheme in Slovakian capital
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CBRE, JLL and Cushman pull up seats at NAMA’s top table
30 April 2010
Services companies join big accountancy firms and merchant banks on advisory panel of Ireland’s “bad bank”
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Crossrail hunts for savings
30 April 2010
Chief executive Holden undertakes “scoping and definition” programme as scheme awaits new government’s budget slashing
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Hughes’ new Helios hits funding jackpot
30 April 2010
British Airways and West Midlands pension funds back European pipeline
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Portfolio in receivership as LPA receiver takes over
30 April 2010
Pro-Invest portfolio is in receivership after its debt servicing was transferred.
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Miller Birch secures major prelet to E.ON
26 April 2010
E.ON has reached an agreement with developer Miller Birch to relocate to a new 105,000 sq ft office building in a major occupational deal for Nottingham.
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REIT chiefs survey: doubts over George Osborne
23 April 2010
Leading property investors, surveyed by Reita, are concerned about whether George Osborne is fit to run the economy if the Conservative party wins next month’s general election.
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Leighton & Henley eyes up London development sites
23 April 2010
Residential developer and investor Kerry Kearton-Gee’s Leighton & Henley has launched a new strategy to take advantage of the central London residential market.
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Deka buys in £3bn City sell-off
23 April 2010
Drapers Gardens under offer for £240m at 5.1% yield
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Icelandic banks’ explosive growth blamed for toxic debt cloud
23 April 2010
Committee investigating the collapse of Iceland’s three big banks delivers withering assessment of their lending behaviour
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Londonewcastle pulls through ‘testing time’
23 April 2010
Developer completes £130m of sales and clears £90m of debt in “spring clean”
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LaSalle and Fairhurst jump on private-rented bandwagon
23 April 2010
Fund manager and entrepreneur team up to attract institutional investment into sector
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What to know: The big City sell-off
23 April 2010
“For sale” signs over £3bn of property in the Square Mile
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£200m retail & leisure scheme planned in Omagh
22 April 2010
Corbo Properties have revealed plans for a £200m retail and leisure development in Omagh town centre this week.
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Cushman & Wakefield mourns loss of West End agent
21 April 2010
Cushman & Wakefield's West End leasing agent John Tranter has passed away.
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Mike Edwards to return to CB Richard Ellis
21 April 2010
Mike Edwards is to return to CB Richard Ellis just six months after he quit as CBRE’s head of investment in the City of London to set up a new company.
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Qatari Diar unveils new Chelsea Barracks masterplan
21 April 2010
Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment has unveiled its new masterplan for the redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site in London.
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Qatari Diar unveils new Chelsea Barracks masterplan
21 April 2010
Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment has unveiled its new masterplan for the redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site in London.
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Invista sells Belgian office and completes French lettings
20 April 2010
Invista European Real Estate Trust has sold its interest in a Belgian office asset for €7.7m and completed more than 250,000 sq ft of lettings in France.
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Aurora Property Group secures Bangor prelet
20 April 2010
Aurora Property Group has secured a prelet to Eurocell at the Gateway Park in Bangor, North Wales.
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Eurohypo finances Aerium’s Manchester purchase
19 April 2010
German bank Eurohypo has provided £122.75m of debt to finance Aerium’s purchase of Allied London’s 3 Hardman Street office scheme in Spinningfields, Manchester.
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Private equity group invests in United House
19 April 2010
Private equity firm LDC has bought a minority stake in social and private housing specialist United House to continue its expansion strategy.
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Evans Randall enters the UK residential market
19 April 2010
Evans Randall is to enter the prime London residential property market after tying up with residential development Northacre in a 50:50 partnership.
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Almacantar raises €150m of equity in first closing
19 April 2010
Almacantar, the property company headed by Mike Hussey and Neil Jones, has raised €150m of equity from investors in its first closing.
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CIty market heats up as more properties put up for sale
16 April 2010
Mitsubishi Estate Company has put its Bow Bells House scheme up for sale for more than £140m in the latest raft of property assets to be brought to the market in the City of London.
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Knight Frank launches new £500m fund management arm
16 April 2010
Knight Frank has launched a new fund management arm to provide a segregated investment management service to pension funds, insurance companies, private banks and high net worth individuals.
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TCN UK, Rotherham and Tesco take Renaissance forward
16 April 2010
Anglo-Dutch property company TCN UK has agreed terms with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for its £40m development at the heart of the Yorkshire borough’s regeneration.
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British Land in £100m West End play
16 April 2010
Property company re-enters development fray by buying Baker Street site from McAleer & Rushe
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Grand masters
16 April 2010
Tony Gibbon and Tony McCurley (pictured, left to right) explain to Deirdre Hipwell their strategy for new property advisory firm GM Real Estate
