MORNING NEWS: UBS to liquidate $2bn real estate fund

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. Having a $2bn (£1.5bn) fund, heavily weighted towards offices and the US has proved too much for Swiss bank UBS, which has announced plans to liquidate the Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund International, which it acquired through its takeover of the private bank in 2023. UBS said the fund had faced redemption calls from investors that would have required it selling assets at an “inopportune time” so it had concluded that winding up the fund would be the better option. Some 83% of the funds assets are in offices, with the US making up the biggest slice of its geographic exposure at 22%. While the US office market has clearly been hit hard from the enduring impact of the pandemic, survey results out today from Lincoln Property Company revealed the majority of US workers want to be back in the office the majority of the time. The survey of more than 1,000 employees reveals what will bring employees back and showcases the difference between the generations. Baby Boomers want to stay home, everyone else wants some in-office time. Location, your own desk and having a private office were the biggest pulls to get people back. Closer to home, the 52,000 sq ft 14 St George Street in London’s Mayfair has been snapped up from Joseph Lau’s Chinese Estates Group by Oval Real Estate. Oval has paid around £125m for the W1 block. The sale comes as Chinese Estates reported a massive swing into the red in the first six months of 2024. Could this see more sales from its UK holdings? And in this week’s EG Interview, we sit down with the newly installed leadership at Hollis to find out how they plan to deliver on the promise to double turnover to £100m in the next five years. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Chinese Estates offloads Mayfair blockUBS to liquidate $2bn real estate fundEG Interview: Hollis’ new leadership team on resetting the consultant for growthMajority of US workers want to be back in the officeCOMMENT Are we heading towards a zonal system?Bid deadlines extended again for CapRegBTR investment falls 77% in UK’s big regional citiesCentral London sees retail investment boomWilko owner hires Matalan’s property director in growth drivePlans submitted for Leeds BTR schemePioneer Group signs trio of occupiers for Manchester’s Hexagon TowerGet Living moots sale of £180m Leeds BTR schemeBTR firm Cortland appoints finance head from Industrials REITEuropean data centres in demand as vacancy rates fall below 10%TPG buys Lone Star out of Quintain Ireland in €200m dealDerwent sells Asta House in Fitzrovia for £8.8mTPG among suitors for £400m Stelios-backed easyHotel chainUK property developer sues PwC alleging ‘negligent’ tax advice (£)Reeves has best chance since Lloyd George of reforming property tax (£)The 30-year journey to put Marylebone High Street back on the map (£)WH Smith feeds appetite for food-to-go with its first cafe (£)