Barings has bought an office asset in France’s capital from Groupe Financière JL for an undisclosed amount.

Barings, which acquired the assets at 163 rue Saint-Maur in Paris on behalf of a pan-European core strategy, said it intends to fully reposition and upgrade the property once vacant.

The building has been used as an office since 1995 and comprises 2,600sqm of lettable space across five floors. Around 1,000 sqm of the property is configured as workshops and showrooms for the current sole tenant whose lease expires at the end of 2021.

Barings said it has appointed Nexity to undertake the refurbishment works which are currently expected to complete late 2023 early 2024.

Séverine Maumy-Laffineur, the managing director and country head real estate France at Barings, said: “This transaction gave us an exciting opportunity to undertake a full refurbishment of an unusual and historic property and reposition it into a Grade A office.

“With a focus on high-quality office and amenity space, occupier wellbeing and excellent environmental credentials, we have designed this building to meet the specific demands of the modern occupier in a post COVID world.”

Gunther Deutsch, the head of transactions Europe at Barings, said: “This transaction underlines our belief that there is continued robust demand for newly repositioned Grade A offices.

“Refurbishment and development opportunities such as this one remain a key area of investment for us both in France and across our other target geographies across Europe, where we can utilise our expert on the ground local teams to source and deliver projects and drive returns for our investors.”

Deutsch said Barings is also targeting further transactions in purpose-built student accommodation and build to rent as the company aims to reach its European investment target of €2bn in 2021.

To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here. 

Topics

Related Companies