Citigroup Global Markets is preparing a €1 billion securitization of commercial office space leases for the Blackstone Group. The deal will securitize leases from Deutsche Bank branches and offices throughout Europe, according to bankers familiar with the plans. The transaction, which is expected to hit the market in the first quarter, will be one of the largest pan-European CMBS deals to date. Officials at Citi declined to comment.
Deutsche Bank recently sold a portfolio of 51 banks branches and offices to the Blackstone Group, a U.S. private equity firm, for roughly €1 billion. The upcoming deal will refinance the funding on Blackstone's purchase. Chad Pike, the senior managing director at Blackstone in London who worked on the deal, referred calls to John Ford, a spokesman in New York. He declined to comment.
The portfolio of offices and bank branches are located in nine different European countries and in 26 cities including Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Lisbon, Barcelona, Brussels and Milan--making for one of the most geographically diverse portfolios of commercial real estate leases to be securitized in Europe. Going forward, similar deals are expected to emerge as corporates seek to shed non-core assets to raise cash.
