LONDON-The local office of Kennedy Wilson, which is based in Beverly Hills, CA, has teamed up with Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank for the future acquisition of $2.5 billion of loans for property in Europe. The two companies will focus on performing, sub-performing and non-performing commercial and residential real estate loans, with a focus on the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The partnership, described as a “framework,” was announced this morning by Kennedy Wilson, which did not divulge the identity of the bank. An uninvolved source provided the name of Deutsche Bank as the partner to GlobeSt.com.
Mary Ricks, president and CEO of locally based Kennedy Wilson Europe, tells GlobeSt.com that though some US investment officials believe now is not the time to buy, there are plenty of excellent opportunities on the continent. She says the partnership looks to buy more distressed assets from banks that need to deleverage.
“We have the ability to add value to assets, as we have a real estate operating platform and understand how to add value,” she says. “London is a market into itself, and there is an abundance of capital looking for real estate opportunities there. We feel that Ireland has a real economy, a well educated population, excellent tax benefits and that real estate values are close to finding bottom, so we like the long term opportunities.”
Kennedy Wilson said it may act as the asset manager and/or master servicer, and will co-invest in the partnership, which may also bring in other potential investors. According to the KW statement, the “framework” does not create a binding, legal agreement, and all deals will be arranged on a case-by-case basis.
The partners have worked together on a number of deals before. For example, Deutsche provided a KW investment group with $54.2 million in financing for Serenade, a 400-unit apartment complex in Oxnard, CA in December; and Deutsche is one of the “book running managers” on KW’s sale of six million shares of stock in November.
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