REAL ESTATE - Mn Services has acquired part of the Netherlands’ largest building for its owner, the €20bn metalworkers’ Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PMT), for €18.34m.

PMT acquired a residential section of the 152m high Montivideo complex in Rotterdam from ING Real Estate, continuing a recent trend for the pension fund to acquire domestic residential property. The Montivideo deal follows its acquisition in March of 29 Rotterdam apartments.

For ING, the deal represented an opportunity to avoid 6% tax due on buildings occupied for more than six months, said a spokesman. The developer has sold 90% of the building, with the remaining 10% earmarked for owner-occupation.

In a separate deal, ING Real Estate sold a retail centre at Ijburg to pensions firm Achmea for €23m. The project – designed by three architects and backed by three consortia – is the first retail centre to be built in a new area spanning six artificial islands in the capital.

A second proposed centre is awaiting planning permission.

“We’re still in the running to develop it,” said ING Real Estate spokeswoman Fanny Ritt, “but plenty of other developers are also after it.”