NETHERLANDS - A group including Dutch pension funds KPN and TNT has sold the Wilhelminahof offices and courts complex in Rotterdam for €220m to the Dutch Government Buildings Agency (GBA).

The sale is the largest single-asset transaction in the Dutch real estate market for the past 12 months.

TKP Investments represented KPN and TNT, while the other members of the consortium were ING Real Estate Development and MAB Development Nederland.

The Wilhelminahof complex was part of a large-scale 1990s development project, in which a number of market parties developed court buildings at the request of the government.

Wilhelminahof was the first phase in the development of offices in the prestigious Kop van Zuid area of Rotterdam in 1996.

The buildings were leased for the long term by the GBA upon completion, but the agency has taken to buying strategic buildings if ownership is more effective than leasing.

At the end of last year, the GBA had already bought seven court buildings from ING Real Estate Development. The purchase will mean considerable government savings in accommodation costs.

Wilhelminahof was not included in the previous courts purchase due to a lack of clarity concerning the technical condition of the buildings. An agreement has since been reached with the consortium.

The complex houses the courts and tax authorities and has a total floor area of more than 81,000 square metres.

CB Richard Ellis and Houthoff Buruma supervised the transaction process on behalf of the consortium, while Jones Lang LaSalle and Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn advised the GBA.

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