Colony: Swiss portfolio changes hands for 250 million
Colony NorthStar has sold two real estate portfolios to a Swiss investment foundation for more than CHF 250 million. The properties are used as student residences, among other things.
The two sale-and-leaseback portfolios in Glion (Montreux) and in Bluche (Crans-Montana) consist of 20 properties used as student residences and for university operations. Colony NorthStar, advised by JLL Switzerland, sold them in a share deal. It was not disclosed which investment foundation was the purchaser. The operator of the properties is Sommet Education.
Georges Asmar, Global Head of Net Lease at Colony NorthStar, calls the transaction "testimony to the increasing volume of long-term sale-and-leaseback activity in Europe and, at the same time, to the growing interest of European institutional investors in this asset class". According to JLL, sale-and-leaseback activity in Europe reached a new ten-year high of nearly €18 billion (CHF20.7 billion) in 2016.
The JLL transaction team consisted of Lars Frölich as project manager as well as Nils Donner, Gregor Strocka and Jan Eckert.
