Global investor AEW has acquired an eight-storey office building in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin’s City West area on behalf of its City Office Germany Fund.
The vendor was privately owned developer-asset manager Becker & Kries.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Dubbed B5, the building comprises around 15,900 m2 of multi-let office space across four interconnected buildings and is 99% occupied.
Originally built in 1971, half of the building is currently undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment by the vendor to improve the quality of space which is already being pre-let to a single tenant. Of the overall lettable area, 80% accounts for office space with the remaining 20% used for retail located on the ground floor.
Matthieu Samaran, director of AEW's Düsseldorf investment team, commented: “We consider B5 to be a rare investment opportunity in terms of the quality of space, location and future tenant mix. Properties of this kind are not traded often in today’s market and upon completion of the refurbishment at the end of 2019, we believe our investors will benefit from an attractive value uplift.’
AEW said that following a final equity raise from institutional investors, the City Office Germany Fund is now fully deployed with total assets under management valued at around €345 mln.
Lars-Henning Pylla, fund manager of AEW City Office Germany, added: ‘We consider Berlin to be one of Europe’s most dynamic real estate markets and are therefore pleased to complete the fund’s investment allocation in this top-tier city. In less than two years, we have demonstrated our ability to assemble a well-diversified German portfolio of institutional quality assets which provides our investors sustainable income with opportunities for value growth over the coming years.’
AEW was advised on the transaction by Greenberg Traurig. The vendor was represented by SKW Schwarz Rechtsanwälte and CBRE.
