MORNING NEWS: SEGRO gets slice of Tritax with fresh deal

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals, all perfectly curated to set you up for the day ahead. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too, even in the cut-throat world of M&A. After a polite but fierce battle of bids between Brookfield and SEGRO to take over Tritax Eurobox, it seems a deal where everyone is happy has been reached. Tritax will still take Brookfield’s £557m cash offer for the business, while SEGRO will still get a collection of assets that complement its European portfolio. The trio have agreed a deal where SEGRO will take on the Dutch and German assets and businesses of Tritax Eurobox in a €470m (£390m) deal, adding more than 3m sq ft to its footprint and €23m of rent. And the fairy-tale endings don’t stop there. There are reasons to be cheerful among the industry’s biggest agents too. Capital markets are back. With all of the major firms having now reported their Q3 figures, it seems most look like they will have managed to “survive until 2025″. EG’s analysis of the figures shows that, after a number of tough years, the capital markets divisions are back in business at all but one of the big US-listed real estate firms. Across Newmark, CBRE, JLL and Colliers, capital markets revenue for the three months to 30 September was a combined $228.3m (£177.3m) higher year-on-year. Only Cushman & Wakefield posted a fall in quarterly revenue from that business, at 4%. Agency bosses remained cautious in their outlook, however, with most predicting a steady rather than steep recovery. “We are in the early stages of recovery for the real estate capital markets,” said JLL chief executive Christian Ulbrich. “Bidder activity further improved in the third quarter from what we saw in the first half of the year, particularly for larger institutional transactions.” He added: “There will be no flood of new deals coming, but we will see a seasonal uptick now in the fourth quarter and then we expect a continuous improvement over the course of 2025.”  Feeling less cheerful will be the teams at the Crown Estate and Pioneer Group which look like they may be about to lose out on buying Oxford’s Clarendon Centre to bitcoin and gold trading entrepreneur Roy Sebag. Sebag is understood to be front-runner to buy the £30m mall and sources say he may not progress the life sciences-led redevelopment plans for the centre. Elsewhere, EG’s Friday evening scoop that long-running public servant Eamonn Boylan was being lined up to take over as interim chief executive of Homes England while a permanent replacement for Peter Denton – and chair Peter Freeman – is found, was confirmed yesterday.  Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said Boylan had “unrivalled experience and a long track record of  successful strategic leadership”. “I know he will drive the agency to maximise its contribution to boosting housing supply and delivering place-based regeneration and placemaking,” he said. Boylan said he was ready to “rise to the challenges ahead and deliver on the government’s goal of delivering 1.5m new homes during this parliament, while also creating more vibrant, thriving communities”. And in east London’s Wood Wharf, towering plans for a 912-bed student scheme look set to get the go ahead as developer WW F1 Student Development Company seeks to “ensure the creation of a mixed and balanced community” in the area. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: SEGRO agrees deal for slice of Tritax EuroboxAllsop raises £88m across two days of auctionsBitcoin investor Sebag sees off Crown for Oxford mallMega student scheme set to rise in Wood WharfAgency bosses on their $230m capital markets beatRelated Argent teams up with SNG for Brent Cross homesL&G beats competition to Sutton industrial estateColliers creates dedicated head of hotels roleCOMMENT: Why most office landlords should leave hospitality to the expertsGreencore appoints director to lead net zero homes deliveryWhitbread set to open third Premier Inn at Edinburgh AirportTravelodge buys St Paul’s office for hotel conversionFirethorn and SW3 get into bed for Dublin hostel buyRapid rise of London’s private rented sector revealedBoylan confirmed as Homes England boss£1.2m Brum development site to hit Bond Wolfe saleVirgin Money books into Covent Garden hotel with £51m loanLithuanian tech firm opens first UK office at Manchester’s Exchange QuayNational deals round-upMera plans £250m prime real estate splash as non-doms exit