AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets has gained a portfolio of prime European offices worth €1.1bn with the acquisition of NYSE-listed Northstar Realty Europe.
AXA IM - Real Assets said it has agreed to offer the real estate investment trust’s shareholders $17.03 (€15.08) for each share held, giving Northstar a market capitalisation of around $850m.
Northstar’s shares which closed at $16.45 on Wednesday had some time in the last 12 months recorded a 52-week high of $18.44 and a low of $12.50 during the same period.
In November last year, NorthStar announced it was conducting a review, including a possible sale of the company, in an effort to maximize shareholder value.
NorthStar said following the strategic review it has entered into an agreement to be bought by AXA IM - Real Assets.
NorthStar’s assets include a 68,000sqm German portfolio of six office assets including three in the city centre of Hamburg, with the remaining three in Cologne, Münster and Berlin.
The company’s two hotels are also in Berlin and comprise 334 rooms across 12,000sqm in total.
There are a further two assets totalling 22,000sqm in the City and West End of London and four offices totalling 32,000sqm across a range of locations in central Paris.
John O’Driscoll, European head of transactions at AXA IM – Real Assets, said the acquisition is a rare opportunity to secure a significant portfolio of prime modern European offices in a single transaction.
“The properties, which are located in the major cities of Europe’s largest economies of France, the UK and Germany, have high occupancy and produce strong levels of income that are ideally suited to our clients.”
AXA IM - Real Assets said it buying NorthStar as part of a core strategy on behalf of a client.
The acquisition, subject to approval by NorthStar shareholders, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.
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