Transamerica Pyramid Center has been sold for $725m (€628m), close to six years after a consortium including Deutsche Finance and German pension funds bought the iconic San Francisco skyscraper for $650m.
Cyprus-based investment firm Yoda, which invests in real estate and shipping, said it had acquired the 48-storey building as part of its inaugural expansion into the US real estate market.
Alon Bar, chief executive officer at Yoda, said: “The acquisition of the 750,000sqft property in San Francisco represents a very strategic milestone for the firm in 2026.
“We are investing in the US, the largest and most sophisticated real estate market in the world, on this most sought-after landmark in San Francisco. This investment establishes our presence in a tier-one gateway city through one of the most recognisable commercial assets globally and provides immediate scale and operational infrastructure.”
Bar said the Transamerica Pyramid deal was not a standalone investment but rather the foundation of a broader and US growth strategy. “We are actively evaluating additional opportunities across key metropolitan markets and developing a structured acquisition pipeline in the US,” he said.
“The Transamerica Pyramid Center structure will serve as the anchor from which we intend to expand, accelerating the growth of our US portfolio over the coming years.”
The transaction brings to a close a period of ownership by German pension funds – including the country’s largest, Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) – during which the building was renovated amid declining US office values and weak occupancy following COVID-19, and subsequent rising construction costs.
Earlier this month, the German pension fund for lawyers in the state of Hessen said it had written down $57.9m invested in Transamerica Pyramid. It said increased construction costs had further strained the office market, while demand for office space remained significantly weaker than initially anticipated. “As a result, the Transamerica project cash-flow became negative,” the pension fund said in a statement.
BVK, meanwhile, in 2024 wrote down €163m of investments in US offices alongside US developer Michael Shvo and Deutsche Finance. In February, BVK appointed Andreas Steimel interim head of real estate – following the departure of Rainer Komenda and Norman Fackelmann last year – and said it would carry out a systematic review of US real estate investments made between 2018 and 2020.
Yoda said the acquisition was financed through a $300m bank loan, with the remaining $425m balance and associated legal and transaction expenses covered by equity.
Eastdil Secured represented the sellers.
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