Germany’s largest pension fund manager and its biggest public insurer are part of a consortium acquiring the Olympia London Exhibition Centre for £296m (€348m).
Deutsche Finance International (DFI) and Yoo Capital, which are leading the consortium, confirmed that the 130-year-old exhibition centre had been bought from listed property company Capital & Counties Properties.
The €80bn Bayerische Versorgunskammer (BVK) and €48.5bn Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (VKB) form part of the consortium, alongside DFI’s European Value Add Fund and Yoo Capital, a UK private equity firm.
Olympia London is situated on a prime 14-acre freehold site in West London. Each year its welcomes more than 1.6m visitors and hosts over 200 events, including MIPIM UK.
Gavin Neilan, co-managing partner at DFI, said: “We see tremendous long-term potential in the 14-acre estate and an opportunity to grow Olympia’s status as a world-class exhibition and events venue working with the existing management team and our partners to enhance the customer experience through expansion of the retail, leisure and hotel offerings.”
Yoo chairman John Hitchcox said: “We will work closely with Olympia management to ensure Olympia continues to represent the very best in world-class exhibition space for Central London and the UK.”
