New global investment advisory group Aegila Capital Management has acquired the Unilever headquarters in Rotterdam from BayernLB's property investment arm, Real IS, for €86.5 mln.
The property consists of the global headquarters of Unilever and an adjacent building for a total of 24,500 m2 and 318 parking spaces.
'Due to the combination of attractive market outlook, unique location and high-quality tenants, this transaction fits well with our investment strategy and is the perfect inaugural deal for Aegila in Europe,' said Giovanni Gregoratti, CEO of Aegila.
'We are very pleased that we secured this acquisition in a highly competitive market and we will be exploring opportunities to expand our portfolio in our target markets across Europe over the course of 2018.'
'With this transaction, Real IS once again demonstrated its abilities in active asset management, securing a long-term cash flow for the investors, improving the quality of the building which is reflected in a better energy label and taking advantage of the current market conditions,' commented Melanie Grüneke, country head of Real IS for the Netherlands.
Real IS purchased the building in the summer of 2009 from investor BPF Bouwinvest and the Unilever pension fund for around €86 mln. In total it made a profit of €500,000 on the property.
More international capital flows to Rotterdam
The office building, located at Weena 455-457, is one of the largest office buildings in central Rotterdam. Unilever occupies around 22,000 m2 of office space in the high-rise building while the educational group Tio University of Applied Sciences occupies the low rise building of circa 2,500 m2.
'Rotterdam follows Amsterdam’s trend in terms of increasing of transaction volumes and yield compression as it attracts new sources of capital from around the world,' noted Jordy Diepeveen, head of acquisitions at Savills.
'In 2015 Rotterdam was the first city in the Netherlands that saw a large transaction with Asian capital involved (De Rotterdam) since the financial crisis and the three latest deals in Rotterdam show the diversity of institutional investors deploying capital into the market: Maastoren (Asia) Cool63 (Germany), WilhelminaTower (U.S.) and Blaak 16 (Abu Dhabi),' Diepeveen added.
'Savills expects that the acquisition of Weena 455-457 by Aegila will not be the last example of high-quality institutional cross-border investment into the Rotterdam office market this year.'
Savills, GT Law, BCLP, SGS Search and PwC advised the buyer. NL real estate – Knight Frank and Loyens&Loeff advised the seller.
