Allianz Real Estate, acting on behalf of several Allianz Group companies, has acquired Les Hauts du Château, a residential development located in Bellevue near Geneva, in a forward deal for circa CHF 200 mln (€189 mln).
The residential scheme will comprise some 300 apartments over roughly 20,000 m2 of rentable area, including a few commercial units and 325 car parking spaces. Construction has already started, and the delivery is expected in 2022.
'This investment, our largest ever deal to date in Switzerland, offers an attractive yield and will help strengthen our position in Geneva, a strategic location for us,' said Martin Kaleja, chief executive of Allianz Real Estate in Switzerland.
'It reflects our strategy to invest in sustainable real estate developments in major Swiss cities. As co-founders of the 'Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance', we have committed to render our investment portfolio climate-neutral by 2050, and this is just one more step in this direction,' Kaleja added.
The scheme is located near the shores of Lake Geneva and next to the Bellevue train station, and is being built to meet Minergie-P environmental standards, a voluntary green certificate that is well regarded in Switzerland.
Once delivered, this building will join Weltpost Park, a modern apartment development in Bern, as the greenest building in Allianz Real Estate’s Swiss portfolio, the firm said.
'Les Hauts du Château represents the next step in expanding and renewing our portfolio in Switzerland, leveraging on our local team knowledge of the asset class and market,' said Michael Steiner, head of transactions and asset management for Allianz Real Estate in Switzerland.
'The assets represent excellent growth opportunities due to the local demand for high quality and well-connected rental accommodation in Switzerland,' Steiner added.
With a Swiss portfolio size in excess of CHF 5 bn, Allianz Real Estate has deployed over CHF 500 mln in similar residential development acquisitions across Switzerland in the last five years in key cities such as Zurich, Bern, and Winterthur, as well as La Tour-de-Peilz and Muri.
