Ilmarinen has taken a 50% stake in a Berlin office asset.

The Finnish investor is co-investing with Immobilien Europa Direkt, an open-end real estate fund managed by Schroders backed by Swiss institutions.

Schroder Real Estate will asset manage the property. 

The 68,000sqm Victoriastadt Lofts office property, in Friedrichshain, is almost fully let.

Tenants include Deutsche Rentenversicherung (Germany’s statutory pension insurance scheme) and Deutsche Post, which together occupy close to 65% of the asset.

Portfolio manager Mikko Antila said: “The property has well-known anchor tenants with sound credit quality. Its future development opportunities provide for increased long-term security for the investment.” 

The deal is Ilmarinen’s third in Germany, having invested in Königstadt Carree in Berlin last year and the Theodor Heuss Allee 50 office property in Frankfurt in February.

Antila said Berlin had further strengthened its position as one of Europe’s strongest real estate markets.

“In addition to high investor interest,” he said, “this is also reflected in growing rental demand for office space – vacancy rates for office premises have declined to a record-low level, which has clearly started to put upward pressure on rents.”

The German capital, Antila said, is currently an attractive investment location for Ilmarinen.

“We do not exclude the possibility of making further real estate investments in Berlin in the foreseeable future,” he said.