The real estate investment arm of alternative asset manager TPG has bought a seven-building office park in Germany from an EQT real estate fund.
TPG Real Estate Partners (TREP) has paid an undisclosed sum to acquire the 116,500sqm TechnologiePark in Cologne from EQT Real Estate fund I.
EQT Real Estate – which acquired the TechnologiePark portfolio out of insolvency in late 2016 for €188m – said the deal represents its first exit from Germany.
The TechnologiePark portfolio comprises six office properties spanning approximately 81,500sqm and the 35,000sqm Mercedes-Benz-Centre car showroom and service centre.
The multi-let portfolio has a 97% occupancy.
Michael Abel, a partner at TPG Real Estate Partners, said: “The acquisition of TechnologiePark underscores TREP’s thematic approach to sourcing compelling investment opportunities across Europe.
“We have spent years studying the German office markets and identified Cologne as a city with attractive growth fundamentals and strong rental momentum.”
Abel said not only does TechnologiePark benefit from high-quality assets with stable blue-chip tenants, but the portfolio is strategically located and well-positioned to benefit from rising demand for office space in Cologne.
Rob Rackind, partner at EQT Partners and investment advisor to EQT Real Estate, said: “TPK is a perfect example of how the integrated pan-European advisory team supported value creation through complex and intensive asset management workstreams and successfully sold this high-quality asset into Germany’s deep institutional market.
“This realisation, together with the exit of Code, a 5,800sqm office redevelopment in Paris earlier this year, confirms that EQT Real Estate’s thematic investment approach, which includes investing in gateway cities across Europe, is generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors.”
