Across the Channel, French investors are stepping up acquisitions

French SCPI funds are continuing their breakthrough in the UK and Ireland, where one deal follows hot on the heels of another.

This is illustrated by the two Iroko Zen deals highlighted by CoStar's sister publication Business Immo last week: the signing of a student housing tower in Portsmouth for €13.3 million, representing a net initial yield of 7.18%, and the acquisition of the Brinell Building, in Brighton, for €32.1 million without fees and taxes, representing a yield of 7.56%.

Both opportunities are in line with its international expansion strategy. But it's not alone – plenty of French SCPIs are buying big in the UK.

Osmo Energie is one of them. After acquiring a 1,530-square-meter office building at 26-27 South Mall, Cork, Ireland, in November, on the basis of a 7.2% yield (including fees and rights), the Mata Capital IM vehicle signed its first deal in the UK a month later.

It snapped up 1,839 square meters of office space in Bristol for €8.8 million, attracted by "the most dynamic markets that have undergone significant value corrections," said Foulques de Sainte Marie, managing director of Mata Capital IM, at the time.

On the BiTV-CoStar panel at the recent Mipim trade show, Philippe Cervesi, chairman of Corum Asset Management, spoke of the appetite of French real estate funds for this playground, particularly in the €20 million to €40 million segment, where competition is less intense and prices have adjusted more quickly than in France.

In early January, at Corum's annual press conference, he had this to say about his international strategy: "For the past two years, we've shopped with extremely high rates of return, because there was little competition, but this window of opportunity is likely to close again in 2025. Will it be in the summer? At the end of the year? That will depend on the rates set by the ECB, the Fed, the Bank of England... [...] In the future, we will make the necessary decisions. Whatever happens, positive things happen. If the market ever strengthens, if prices rise with a resurgence of investors, we'll have the opportunity to sell. If not, we'll continue to take advantage of this very favorable investment window."