CR sells further assets from Treveria, MSREF, opens bidding for D12
The London and Berlin-headquartered CR Investment Management kicked off the month by selling three further properties for the portfolio backing the Sunrise II/Treveria II loan, part of the Treveria D Silo, whose history we have reported on in REFIRE several times over the past eighteen months.
CR was appointed as asset manager for Treveria D Silo in February 2013. At the time, the portfolio consisted of 48 retail assets, including department stores, shopping centres, car dealerships and food discounters, across 250,000 sqm and 43 German cities. The portfolio today consists of 43 properties with a market value of approximately €150m.
Similar to the Treveria C-Silo, for which CR was awarded the asset management mandate in early 2010, and which was originally financed by loans of €550m, the Treveria D-Silo was originally financed by loans from Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.
The loans were subsequently securitised in both the C and D silos, and in the case of the D-Silo, the loans sit within the EMC 6 and DECO 2006 E4X securitisations. In both the Treveria C- and D-Silos, Situs Asset Management has the special servicing mandate.
The three properties sold are all retail assets, and are located across Germany in Duderstadt, Kempten and Ranstadt. The Duderstadt property comprises of four freehold retail units with an occupancy rate of 95%. The Kempten property is a department store with four storeys and a basement with a 100% occupancy rate. The Ranstadt building, currently a local supermarket, is designed as a mixed-use property suitable for redevelopment.
Alex Lackner of CR Investment Management commented, “We are currently in negotiations with a broad range of both local and institutional investors for a further 22 properties from the portfolio, which are in the due diligence process and we are very optimistic that there will be further progress in Q3 and Q4. CR has extensive experience in the asset type, quality and sector and we continue to apply that expertise to maximising value in the work-out through to eventual sale of the remaining properties in the portfolio.”
A further announcement in the middle of the month from the company said that CR had also arranged the sale of ten properties out of its Sanchez portfolio between June and September, for a price of €55m. The properties, located across Germany, total 65,000 sqm of lettable space.
CR said they were sold to various buyers ranging from local developers to large international investors" for total proceeds of about €55mn. The original 107 properties in the Sanchez portfolio were financed through loans totaling about €1.1bn, including the €472mn securitized ‘Mozart’ loan, with the original owner being a Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds vehicle. In a widely-publicised move at the time, Morgan Stanley effectively ‘handed back the keys’ in June 2011, at which point CR was ppointed by the lenders as Asset Manager and Transaction Adviser.
CR said it has now managed to reduce the portfolio to less than 20 properties, and had achieved sales prices averaging 10% above market value. In 2011, the lenders appointed CR to be the asset manager and transaction adviser.
CR Investment also said last week that it has started the process of selling the DT 12 Portfolio of behalf of the listed Summit Group, working closely with special loan servicer Hatfield Philips International.
The portfolio is made up of 12 inner city office properties located across Germany. Two of the assets are in Big 7 cities, with nine in smaller cities but above 100,000 inhabitants. The portfolio totals more than 150,000 sqm of lettable space, with nine of the properties having more than 10,000 sqm. All the assets are currently leased to Deutsche Telekom AG and generate an annual rent of €15.5m. According to CR, the specific properties in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Potsdam are targeted for conversion and redevelopment.
According to Hatfield Philips’ CEO Blair Lewis, “This is a value-added portfolio that is anchored by a very strong tenant in Deutsche Telekom AG. What makes this collection of assets even more interesting is the significant embedded asset management opportunities.
CR Investment are looking for indicative bids from potential buyers for the whole or parts of the portfolio by 22nd October, with a view to closing the deal by year-end.