Prominent commercial real estate deals in Europe include the new Bronze Gate offices in Luxembourg, bought for €65m, logistics properties in Denmark and the Netherlands, offices in Austria and residential and student housing in Poland.
REInvest purchases Bronze Gate in Luxembourg for €65m
Location and details: Investment partner REInvest has purchased Bronze Gate in the new Cloche d’Or district in Luxembourg from developers Nextensa and Promobe.The property was acquired for the DEREIF SICAV-FIS fund which invests in European real estate. The main investor in the Luxembourg-based real estate special fund is a major German insurance company. Bronze Gate at 5, Rue Charles Darwin, is set to receive a BREEAM “Excellent” sustainability certification. Bronze Gate, with its signature bronze facade, comprises six above-ground and two below-ground floors and around 5,040 sqm of rental space. It was completed in September 2022. The office property has already been pre-let on a long-term basis to the at Home Group research and brokerage company which specialises in real estate and vehicles, and the international law firm CMS DeBacker Luxembourg. The image is by Guy Wolf © Grossfeld).
Sector: Offices
Buyer: REInvest Asset Management
Sellers: Developers Nextensa and Promobe
Price: €65m
Key quote: Hans Stuckart, Managing Director of REInvest, says, “The location is forward-looking and one of the up-and-coming districts in Luxembourg. We have also achieved high standards in the building’s ESG features.”
Source: https://www.reinvest-am.lu/en/news-2/
REIT purchases Danish business part for DKK 117.4 million
Location and details: Cromwell European REIT has acquired the light industrial / logistics property Sognevej 25 in Brøndby, Copenhagen, Denmark for DKK 117.4 million (€15.8 million). Sognevej 25 is strategically situated adjacent to CEREIT’s existing Priorparken 700/800 assets, in a well-established business park Priorparken, 8km west of Copenhagen CBD. Cromwell European REIT has also sold two older light industrial / logistics assets in Germany for €11 million.
Sector: Logistics
Buyer: Cromwell European REIT
Price: DKK 117.4 million
Key quote: The Manager’s Chief Executive Officer, Simon Garing, says, “I am pleased to announce the completion of CEREIT’s first logistics acquisition in Denmark since listing. Strategically, this new asset is located adjacent to CEREIT’s existing assets in Priorparken and will add value and scale to CEREIT’s portfolio of Danish assets. Notably, this off-market transaction was completed within days of the divestment of two much older, non-core assets in Germany at the above valuation, validating the capabilities of our experienced on-the-ground asset management teams in Europe.”
Poland residential and student properties fetch €60m-plus
Location and details: Berlin-based Catella European Residential has sold fully-let residential and student properties in Warsaw and Krakow for more than €60 million. They were sold to institutional investors in Austria and the Netherlands. Catella entered the Polish residential market in 2016 with the acquisition of Pereca 11 in Warsaw, followed by the purchase of Trio Kraków in Krakow in 2017. Poland’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) market is also very attractive for investors as the country has some 1.2 million students and few institutional student dormitories.
Sector: Residential and student
Buyer: Institutional investors in Austria and the Netherlands
Price: €60m-plus
Key quote: Benjamin Rüther, Head of Fund Management at CRIM, says, “The Polish residential market is predominantly (around 80%) an owner-occupier market, but is shifting to a rental market, which will offer attractive investment opportunities for years to come. Both Pereca 11 in Warsaw and Trio Kraków are fully let and are outperforming our business plans. After having achieved very attractive returns for our investors in recent years with both these properties, we now intend to focus on new investment opportunities.”
Immofinanz sells Vienna offices for around €60m
Location and details: IMMOFINANZ has completed the sale of two office buildings in Vienna. The offices at Franz Josefs Kai 27 and Schreyvogelgasse 2 were sold to the Winegg Group. These two properties have 7,000 sqm of space in total and are occupied by long-term tenants.
Sector: Offices
Buyer: Winegg Group, Austria
Price: Around €60m
Key quote: Radka Doehring, member of the IMMOFINANZ Executive Board, says, “We are proceeding quickly with the implementation of the portfolio strategy that was approved this past summer with its focus on retail properties and myhive office solutions as well as planned sales with a value of roughly one billion euros. The recent sale of an office building in Prague has now been followed by another important transaction, and we are very pleased with the resulting sale price. Since the strategy was announced, our real estate sales have totalled around 150 million euros. Investors‘ interest in high-quality office properties in central locations is still very high.”
Source: https://immofinanz.com/en/news/immofinanz-successfully-completes-further-property-sales
Netherlands logistics project bought for c.€30m
Location and details: Deka Immobilien has exchanged contracts on a logistics project in the province of Gelderland for around €30m. The project, currently under construction, includes two hall sections with a mezzanine and integrated office and social areas and is located in the Agro II industrial park in Huissen, which is situated between Arnhem and Nijmegen. A photovoltaic system will be installed on the roof. The property, comprising approximately 25,000 square metres and 111 parking spaces, is fully leased long-term to Hoevers Logistiek B.V. The company offers warehousing and logistics services for third parties and intends to use the site as its headquarters after completion in November 2022. The aim is to have the building certified as at least “Excellent” by BREEAM, the British quality mark for sustainable building. Once completed, the site will be transferred to the WestInvest TargetSelect Logistics sector fund, which is aimed at institutional investors.
Sector: Logistics
Seller: VolkerWessels Logistics Development of the Netherlands
Price: €30m
Key quote: “With this purchase, the fund management of WestInvest TargetSelect Logistics is expanding its portfolio to include a fully leased new building in an excellent location for logistics operations.”
