Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group, today announced that it has completed six sales for a total of more then €200 million from its European real estate fund, for an average internal rate of return of 36%. Carlyle has also sold 13 of the 36 properties in the Jupiter portfolio, bought from the Italian Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze in March 2003.
The assets sold include five office buildings in Paris, and one office building in central Milan. During their ownership, Carlyle renovated and refurbished the buildings to improve their quality. The buildings were sold to a variety of institutional real estate funds. The Jupiter portfolio assets have been sold to a variety of buyers.
The €430 million fund made its first investments in mid-2001 and was closed at the end of 2003. The real estate team of 23, led by Managing Director Eric Sasson, has already invested a significant part of the fund, for a total investment value of €770 million. The 17 investments completed to date include 53 properties with a total area of 650,000sqm located in France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and the UK. As a result of the asset sales, Carlyle has returned nearly 20% of the fund at a high rate of return.
Eric Sasson, Managing Director commented, “This is a great return for property investments and we are delighted to be able to return money to our investors at this early stage of the fund. There is still strong demand for prime office properties, and investment activities across Europe remain strong, providing good opportunities for us to sell. We continue to see attractive new investment opportunities coming to the market where we feel we can add significant value. We also plan to diversify our portfolio in the last stage of investment into other assets including residential, retail and hotels.”
In 2004, the fund’s real estate investments include three joint venture development projects; the Islands Brygge development project of 400 apartments in Copenhagen, a development project for a production facility and a retail park in Cumbernauld in Scotland and a 25,000sqm development in Montreuil, next to Paris.
Source: Carlyle Group
