GERMANY - IVG Immoblien, Germany's largest quoted real estate firm, has completed €323m worth of transactions in Paris which included selling an office building on the city's "Rive Gauche" for €165m and buying two others for €158m.
IVG said the 15,000 sq m object on the Rive Gauche was sold to French savings bank group Caisse d'Epargne in a share deal, Caisse d'Epargne already being the building's sole tenant.
Meanwhile, IVG also said it had acquired office buildings near the Paris airport of Orly and near Paris' La Defénse corporate park from the Royal Bank of Scotland and a Luxembourg fund, respectively.
Georg Reul, IVG board member responsible for investment, said: "With the sale of the fully-rented building, we were able to realise a profit. At the same time, we were able to expand our portfolio in France via the acquisition of two properties that are in top locations and have considerable potential for appreciation."
Bonn-based IVG has €19bn in assets under management, virtually all of which is institutional money. It primarily invests in European commercial real estate.
In other news, Patrizia Immobilien, another quoted German property firm, said its investment venture with €210bn Dutch pension giant ABP and the €50bn Danish scheme ATP, had paid €50m for seven commercial objects in German cities.
Patrizia said to increase their value, the properties would be fully renovated at a cost of €2.6m.
This venture, which aims to allocate up to €700m to commercial property in Germany, was set up last April. ABP and ATP have already allocated €60m while Patrizia, which is selecting the properties and handling their management, has contributed €8m.
