BC Partners Real Estate and Freo Group complete the acquisition of the Novartis Headquarters in Barcelona city centre.
BC Partners Real Estate and Freo Group have acquired the Spanish headquarters of pharmaceutical company Novartis in a sale and leaseback deal.
The companies said they have completed the acquisition of the office building located at Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes 764 in the city centre of Barcelona. Financial details were undisclosed.
The plan is for the building to undergo a comprehensive refurbishment as well as an internal and external redesign to turn it into a modern and sustainable workspace of 13,000sqm.
Novartis, which has occupied the asset since the 1970s, will lease half of the office space once work is complete.
Laurian Douin, partner at BC Partners said: “We are very pleased to conclude BC Partners’ first real estate investment in Spain with the help of Freo and we are confident that this will be the first of many.
“The deal’s defensive profile, with half of the space already pre-let to a prominent occupier, the building’s urban location, its potential for repositioning into attractive sustainable, and flexible and amenity-rich office space will appeal to occupiers and makes it exactly the kind of investment we seek to put our capital to work.”
Daniel Mayans, managing director of Freo said: “Freo is delighted to purchase such an iconic building in Barcelona. We acquire this project with a like-minded partner committed to investing in the Spanish market, also creating the necessary value out of the repositioning of a unique asset in the city.
“After our recent successes in the 22@ area, we are looking forward to putting our expertise of the Barcelona office sector to work on such a new exciting project.”
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