It doesn’t always take an acquisition to make an impact as a new entrant on the UK agency scene. Sometimes an appointment will be enough.
That appears to be the case with Eastdil, the US adviser. Meyer Bergman has appointed the firm to work alongside CBRE on the sale of its stake in the Bentall Centre in Kingston, south-west London. Until now, Eastdil has been best known in the UK for its work in the City of London. But this significant appointment, born of a long-standing relationship with Meyer Bergman, will and should be seen as a statement of intent.
As Estates Gazette said back in March, we ranked Eastdil senior managing directors James McCaffrey and Michael Cochran 29th in our annual Power List: “Eastdil has confounded expectations that it would burst onto the London agency scene with a headline acquisition but that has done nothing to lessen the threat that it poses to established UK players.”
As Eastdil extends its influence from the City to retail, that threat will feel more real for more advisers today – all the way up to the CBREs of this world.
In the latest US league tables published by Real Estate Alert for the first half of this year, Eastdil held 44% of the retail brokerage market for deals worth more than $25m (£15m) – almost three times CBRE’s share. In offices it’s the same; a 40% share to CBRE’s 15%.
Make no mistake: Owned by Wells Fargo and advised by some of the biggest names in UK property, including former Credit Suisse banker Ian Marcus, Eastdil will be a formidable challenger in the months and years ahead. And on more fronts than many would have previously expected.
¦ Buried deep in Derwent London’s impressive interims this week – the London-focused REIT reported a 13.6% hike in NAV to 2,572p – was the news that it had applied for consent to convert its headquarters at 25 Savile Row, W1, into a 58,000 sq ft residential development. Given that where Derwent leads, others follow, should we expect a spate of HQ-to-resi conversions next?
¦ But could Derwent be late to the party? Given the firm’s sure touch, it might seem absurd to even pose the question. But there was further evidence this week that the resi market is cooling, and especially in the capital. Calling a “pause for breath” in the national housing market, RICS said in London both sales and new buyer demand fell more sharply than elsewhere, with enquiries falling at their fastest rate since April 2008. RICS expects price gains over the next year to be faster outside of the capital than in it. For the record Derwent will, no doubt, do well out of its Mayfair resi foray.
¦ Much has been written about how London especially has benefited from global turmoil, less about how that turmoil has impacted on property developers in some of those affected regions. Two sets of results shone a light on prevailing anxieties this week.
Central and Eastern Europe developer Atrium, whose significant retail holdings in Russia have continued to perform well to date, said: “We continue to monitor the situation in Russia closely and cautiously.”
Nigel Wright, chairman of Mirland, which is developing in Moscow and St Petersburg, was more stark: “The Russian economy remains challenging and the situation in the Ukraine remains unresolved, whilst a weakening rouble has the potential to have a further impact despite the continued excellent performance of the underlying business.”
While their significance pales in comparison to the wider political impact, Mirland and Atrium’s next trading statements will be closely watched.
Damian.Wild@estatesgazette.com
