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Bloomberg
Blackstone Group LP plans to sell office properties in the Netherlands as the world’s largest manager of alternative assets seeks to profit from rising real estate prices in the country, according to two people with knowledge of the process.
CBRE Group Inc. has been hired to market the properties in cities including Amsterdam and Utrecht for more than 500 million euros ($550 million), said one of the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Representatives for Blackstone and CBRE declined to comment.
The Netherlands’ growing economy is boosting tenant demand for office space, which in turn is helping lift property values and motivating owners to sell. Office lease signings rose 5 percent in 2015 from a year earlier, while investment volumes climbed 3.3 percent to 3.8 billion euros, according to data compiled by Savills Plc.
Blackstone is the world’s biggest private-equity investor in real estate, according to its website. The company bought six Dutch office buildings from CBRE Global Investors in 2014 for 165 million euros, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., which advised the seller, said at the time.
The New York-based company last week said second-quarter profit rose 2 percent as it earned more from property disposals and its credit portfolio gained. It is considering sales across Europe, including its warehouse unit Logicor, valued at more than 10 billion euros, and European hotels valued at about 980 million euros.