Norges Bank Investment Management has bought its first property in Munich without a partner.
The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has paid AM Alpha €176.1m for two office assets in the centre of the German city.
The deal is the fund’s first German purchase without a joint venture partner.
In late 2012, the fund invested in Berlin and Frankfurt via a €784m joint venture with AXA REIM.
In November last year, the fund once again invested with AXA, buying a Munich office building from Prime Office REIT for €164m.
Munich-based AM Alpha said the Bavarian capital was enjoying significant interest from international capital.
Traditionally, Norges is a long-term investor, the two properties – which total 29,000sqm – are likely to be held for some time. The two assets are let to McKinsey & Co and Conde Nast.
AM Alpha has kept a 5.1% stake in the assets for a co-investment fund it advises. The firm will manage the co-investment vehicle, which will buy stakes in German real estate.
AM Alpha last year sold a trophy asset in Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse to a Swiss investor, as well as selling an office property in Dublin for €49.3m one and a half years after having bought it for €36.5m. The firm has also sold residential properties across Berlin for more than €50m. At the same time, the firm is continuing to invest in core London, Munich and New York properties as well as non-core properties.
Read more on sentiment from Munich’s annual Expo Real property conference here
