GLOBAL – The Pensionskasse for the Hoechst Group and the multi-employer Höchster Pensionskasse have bought a retail real estate portfolio from LaSalle Investment Management.
According to their latest available annual report, the €6.3bn Hoechst PK had invested 6.7% of its portfolio in real estate, and the €787m multi-employer pension fund 12.6%, as per year-end 2011.
A spokesman at LaSalle Germany confirmed to IPE that it had sold a portfolio to the pension funds for an undisclosed sum.
The portfolio consisted of three retail centres from a fund currently in its divestment phase.
He added that the assets were "core investments" with rental agreements running another 10 years on average.
The retail centres are situated in one district of Berlin, and in the two Bavarian towns of Eching and Oberau – which are all "very sought after" locations, according to the spokesman.
The multi-employer pension fund Höchster Pensionskasse – mainly for the German chemical industry but also open to other industries – is managed by the staff of the Pensionskasse of the Hoechst Group.
In other news, German company Hochtief has sold its airport business to Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
The Hochtief Airport was sold retroactively as per 1 January for around €1.1bn, which the German company will use to pay off debt.
The sale is part of Hochtief's attempts to focus on its core business of construction and building.
Hochtief Airport has shares in several airports in Germany and abroad, including Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Athens, Budapest, Sydney and Tirana.
The deal still has to be approved by the regulatory authorities.
