The number of so-called distressed and opportunistic funds has grown quickly on the back of the downturn in the property markets. Some believe these investors might be jumping the gun, as truly distressed properties remain few and far between. Market observers say the amount of cash being raised could far exceed the number of opportunities.

The Asian real estate investment trust (Reit) market has weathered the sub-prime storm reasonably well, but a new deal suggests that the grim credit markets are going to lead to significantly different structures this year. Specifically, much simpler ones.

Banco Santander has completed the sale of its Spanish corporate property portfolio through a series of sale-and-leaseback transactions. The deals, executed over seven months, brought more than €4.3 billion into the bank’s coffers, €1.681 billion of which was a capital gain. The sale of the bank’s Madrid headquarters, Boadilla del Monte, to Propinvest was worth €1.9 billion on its own, making it one of the largest deals to be done in Spain.

The global real estate industry is on the brink of a green revolution. Will the cities of the future be built to be greener, creating a parallel universe of green financing instruments?

The Kingdom of Bahrain’s Real Estate Finance company (Reef) has secured $150 million in warehouse financing to bolster its local mortgage lending activities. The facility, provided by Calyon Crédit Agricole CIB, enables Reef to diversify its funding sources. Ultimately, the mortgage portfolio could be used to back a residential mortgage-backed securitization in either an Islamic or standard format.

Axa Real Estate Investment Managers (Axa Reim) has appointed Alan Patterson to the new role of head of European research and strategy. Based in London, Patterson reports to Kiran Patel, global head of strategy and business development, Axa Reim. In this new role, Patterson will manage the expanding European research and strategy team based in London, Paris, Cologne and Madrid. Patterson joins from UBS Global Asset Management, where he was director of pooled property funds and research. Previously, he was property sector analyst at HSBC Investment Bank.

Green leases are slowly finding favour among tenants and landlords in the UK. With increasing energy costs and new legislation encouraging sustainable building practices, some market participants believe these contracts will become the norm. Rachel Wolcott reports.

For those dependent on the European commercial mortgage-backed securities market for funding, the credit crunch has prompted a round of soul-searching. The market may be closed for the next six months, forcing some to look elsewhere. What will it take to prompt a revival? Laurence Neville reports.

Financing the cities of the future

Financing the cities of the future

Financing the cities of the future

Financing the cities of the future

Roger Blundell is the new finance director at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, the UK arm of the international property group, which has £11 billion ($22.7 billion) of assets under management.

Monte Koch is the new global head of real estate investment banking at Deutsche Bank. The former mergers and acquisitions head replaces Devin Murphy, who is leaving to pursue other interests, although he will continue to act as an adviser to the real estate business.

After almost a five-month hiatus the European commercial mortgage-backed securities market is showing signs of life, with a handful of deals being marketed quietly. However, market participants are by no means confident that these deals will herald the market’s resurrection. Dealers have dramatically revised their expectations for 2007 volumes. Instead of the projected €100 million-worth of CMBS, a mere €50 million is hoped for by year-end.

Big changes are coming to the UK real estate market as the government seeks to pass the planning reform bill which is aimed, in part, at streamlining and improving the planning process. If passed, the bill will introduce a single consents regime for big infrastructure projects, create an independent infrastructure planning commission and institute further initiatives to improve the town and country planning system. Now in its first reading in the House of Commons, the proposed legislation could bring the most significant changes to planning in the UK since the end of the Second World War.

A Chinese real estate investment trust market appears to have moved a step closer following comments by the general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe), a landmark building in the City of London, has been sold to German high-net-worth and private clients through IVG Immobilien’s closed-end fund, EuroSelect 14.

The European residential mortgage-backed securitization market has all but disappeared, and no one knows what the landscape will look like when investors and issuers return in January.

Vladimir Pantyushin, chief economist of Renaissance Capital, is joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Russia & CIS, as national director, head of economic and strategic research group.

The advent of trades on the Italian and Swiss Investment Property Databank indices has furthered the development of the property derivatives market. This opening up of the market into new jurisdictions is expected to continue, with market experts pointing to the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Ireland as likely candidates for the next IPD-based trades.

The Chinese property market is booming, even when the pace of land release is restricted. But concerns about policy and that some developers’ stocks might be overvalued have injected some caution into the market. Chris Wright reports.

Shaun Stevens, senior product specialist, Fortis Investments

London-based Rutley Capital Management, the real estate private equity arm of Knight Frank, is preparing a fund focused on east Africa. The Rutley East Africa fund will aim to raise $200 million to invest in city-centre properties in the capital cities of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius and South Africa. The fund will formally launch by the end of this year.

Andrea Carpenter, Inrev

Prudential Property Investment Management has hired two directors for its UK asset management team.

Leading Gulf-based real estate companies look set to benefit from the surging global demand for regional property-related securities, with many set to launch local and overseas initial public offerings over the coming months.