REAL ESTATE - IVG Immobilien has leased its Brussels Madou Plaza building to the European Union under a 27-year lease. The parties have signed an agreement not to disclose details of the contract.

More than 1,200 civil servants from the EU, the European Culture and Information Policy Centre and the press department will occupy the 33-storey building.

Madou last week won the MIPIM award for best renovated office building. The announcement, made last week at the European property fair, comes at the end of three-year refurbishment project that cost IVG €140m. The project involved the 40-year-old building being completely gutted, the addition of 32,000 square metres and the construction of a 12-floor atrium on one side.

IVG would not comment on the expected yield but said it was looking for further opportunities in the small Saint Josse Ten Node quarter.

Spokesman Peter Mueller said: “The EU district is a market with special conditions because it does not depend exclusively on economic conditions but also benefits strongly from EU expansion. So, yes, there probably will be more investment opportunities in future.”