EUROPE - German fund manager Union Investment has sold another Paris asset from its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa as part of a strategy to divest French assets acquired between 1999 and 2004.

It sold the Alie Sud building, acquired in 1999, to France's largest private TV channel.

According to a press statement, the asset generated a steady cash flow from the fund over 12 years.

The firm did not disclose the sale price on the deal announced this week, but spokesman Fabian Hellbusch said prices on all assets sold from the firm's first investment phase in France "equalled or were above" recent valuations.

Older assets acquired for the fund during the firm's entry into the market "don't fit our fund strategy any more", he said.

They include an office block in Courbevoie and the Espace Gaymard building in Marseilles, a speculative development acquired for the fund in 2002.

The office-dominated fund also holds hotels, shopping centres and logistics assets.

Despite the disposal strategy, Hellbusch described France as his "most important foreign market".

Yet as Union Investment aggressively scouts German office and retail assets - including for a new retail vehicle - the fund manager is becoming more selective in the French market after the acquisition last year of Paris-based Euragone Asset Management.

Its focus over the next 12-15 months will be on acquisitions in Paris and the regions, notably Bordeaux, Lyons and Marseilles.

The firm will target single assets with price tags of €15m-150m, rather than portfolios.

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