A joint venture of institutional investors led and advised by Deutsche Finance International (DFI), a global investment firm and part of the Deutsche Finance Group, and Yoo Capital (YC), have announced it has acquired Olympia London, in a US$368m (£296m) deal.
As reported last week, the deal was on the table last week for the 130-year-old exhibition and events business, which is situated on a 14-acre freehold site in West London and welcomes 1.6 m visitors and hosts over 200 events a year over its seven connected spaces.
The acquisition, from listed London property company Capital & Counties Properties PLC (Capco) also involves 3.9 acres of freehold land available for hospitality, leisure and residential development.
Nigel Nathan, Olympia London MD, said: "This is an exciting time for our business; much care was taken throughout the sale process to ensure the continuation of Olympia London’s 130-year legacy. We look forward to working with our new owners on the next chapter in Olympia London’s rich history.”
The joint venture includes Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK, Germany’s largest manager of public pension schemes investing through a fund administrated by Universal-Investment), the Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (VKB Germany’s largest public insurer), DFI European Value Add Fund (DFI Fund) and YC, as UK co-investor and asset manager.
Gavin Neilan, co-managing partner of DFI, said: "We are delighted to have completed the Olympia London transaction. We see tremendous long term potential in the 14-acre estate and an opportunity to grow Olympia’s status as a world-class exhibition and events venue working with the existing management team and our partners to enhance the customer experience through expansion of the retail, leisure and hotel offerings. We would like to acknowledge and thank the outstanding support we received from our lender Legal & General and all our advisers."
Frank RoccoGrande, fellow co-managing partner added: “We are privileged and thrilled to have advised and partnered with leading global institutional investors BVK and VKB. This opportunity allows us to build on the successful foundation laid by Capco and take a long term, holistic approach in managing, growing and re-generating parts of the estate to build value for our investors.”
Yoo chairman and global property entrepreneur John Hitchcox, said: “We are delighted to partner on such an exciting investment. We will work closely with Olympia management to ensure Olympia continues to represent the very best in world-class exhibition space for Central London and the UK. We plan to provide a detailed update on our plans and work with local stakeholders in the second half of 2017.”
Lloyd Lee, Yoo Capital managing partner added: “We are extremely excited to be working with major global investment firm Deutsche Finance and their blue-chip investors and look forward to focusing on Olympia and exploring future opportunities together.”
Yoo Capital will “work closely with Deutsche Finance to support the tremendously talented management team, while bringing forward the long-term opportunities for complementary hospitality, leisure and residences available on the estate,” said Yoo Capital MD, Andrew Thorpe.
The Consortium was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright, Deloitte, Langham Hall and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Deutsche Finance International is a London-based, privately-owned value add and opportunistic real estate investment firm and investment adviser of DFI European Value Add Fund SCSP and asset adviser to Olympus Luxembourg Holding SCSP. The firm is part of the Deutsche Finance Group, a leading global real estate fund of funds and institutional investment management firm headquartered in Munich and active since 2005.
Yoo Capital is a privately owned real estate investment firm with over $1bn of gross real estate assets under management across Greater London. Specialising in creative, complex mixed-use investments, the firm has in house private equity, creative asset management and development capabilities with over 30 years and $10bn of transactional experience. Recently, Yoo Capital entered into a long-term capital commitment with Deutsche Finance to focus on high quality, value creation opportunities across Central London and the UK.
