Arlington Securities, the property services and property investment management company, has increased total funds under management by 15%, and increased continental European funds under management by 25%, since the acquisition of Aberdeenâs property fund management business in May 2004.
At the time of the acquisition, Arlingtonâs portfolio of funds in the UK and continental Europe was valued at £5.2bn. Over the last 6 months additional investment from new and existing Arlington clients in the UK, the acquisition and development of a new business park in Barcelona, Spain, together with new fund management activity in Amsterdam, have combined to increase Arlingtonâs total funds under management by 15% to just over £6 billion.
Patrick Deigman CEO of Arlington Securities said, âThis is a great start to the New Year and we are delighted with the combined activity of our business. Our investment management and property services activities are rapidly growing across Europe. We are continuing to look for innovative opportunities to deliver value and performance to our customers as we expand our European presence.â
The increase has also been driven in part by the recent â¬150 million acquisition of Rentiber which owns the San Fernando Business Park in Madrid, Spain on behalf of the Arlington European Business Parks Partnership Fund bringing total assets under management in Europe to Euro 650 million.
Nick Murray, head of Arlingtonâs European operation, commented:
âThe Madrid transaction is important as the first investment acquisition on behalf of this fund, it also increases our presence in Europe significantly, and is consistent with our European strategy to increase our funds under management across continental Europe.â
Hypo Real Estate Bank international provided â¬136 million financing as term finance and â¬19 million to cover costs and VAT due on the deal for the acquisition of the San Fernando Business Park, which was the largest office investment transaction to take place in Madrid during 2004.
Harin Thaker, CEO of Hypo Real Estate Bank Internationalâs European business platform, said:
âWe are delighted to have been able to provide the financing solution Arlington required in this transaction. This facility demonstrates how we can utilise our European business platform to deliver efficient and successful structured finance solutions for key UK clients such as Arlington, in continental Europe.
Arlington will be providing business services to customers at the San Fernando Business Park which at present has annual service revenue of â¬2.5 million. This marks a major move by Arlington Property Services who have now set up a Spanish division to support Madrid and Barcelona and its other assets under management in Spain.
The San Fernando Business Park is an existing 74,000 m² mature Business Park let to over 100 tenants including amongst others Telefonica, Oxford University Press, Carrefour and Airtel. The park also includes almost 30,000 m² of development which is due to commence during 2005.
The park is located in San Fernando de Henares, just 17 kilometres from the capital and six from Barajas Airport. The park, which has occupancy of close to 90%, includes 12 office buildings and a range of services such as a gymnasium, restaurants and retail and leisure units and is surrounded by landscaped areas and a lake. It has direct access to the N-II highway and is very close to the M-40 ring road. In addition, the new M-45 and M-50 ring roads provide quick and easy access from the park to the national road network, the center of Madrid and periphery towns.
Arlington was advised throughout the transaction by CBRE.
Source: Arlington
