Allianz Real Estate is to build and develop a series of prime office assets in Germany’s top four cities in a €1.3 bn programme in conjunction with real estate developer Edge and Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany's largest public-law pension group and an established co-investor of Allianz.
The programme will cover new ground-up developments as well as existing stock repositioned for predominantly office use. Each asset is to be located in central, well-established submarkets in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt. It will be managed jointly by Allianz Real Estate and Edge during each development phase. Post completion, Allianz Real Estate will take over the management of each asset.
Each (re-)development will aspire to the highest standards for building quality, have a strong focus on sustainability and user well-being, and will feature smart technologies as well as new working and space concepts. On completion, the assets will meet Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) sustainability standards and support Allianz Real Estate’s targets to reduce carbon emissions across its global portfolio by 25% by 2025 and be carbon net-zero by 2050.
Edge is one of Europe’s largest commercial property developers and a global leader in tech-enabled green building design. The firm is partly owned by Australia’s property giant Macquarie.
Edge has worked with Allianz Real Estate across a number of assets, including Edge East Side Berlin and Edge HafenCity Hamburg, with a combined value of €1 bn. These assets, with their highest standards of sustainability and user well-being, are currently under construction and will serve as a blueprint for the new development programme.
Allianz and BVK most recently partnered in the Four Tower 1 deal announced in July last year, managed on their behalf by Allianz Real Estate. The €1.4 bn property, which is being constructed in the heart of Frankfurt’s banking district, was the largest single-asset deal in Germany at the time in 2021. It was the second joint venture between Allianz and BVK, following the forward deal in 2019 to acquire Edge East Side in Berlin.
Annette Kröger, CEO, North & Central Europe, Allianz Real Estate, said: ‘We continue to believe in the office sector and are excited to launch this programme with our partners to build up a portfolio of resilient, future-oriented and sustainable assets that will meet future tenant demands.’
Coen van Oostrom, founder and CEO, Edge, said: ‘We’re thrilled to start this development program with Allianz Real Estate and BVK and have them join our journey to bring better buildings to the world. Together, we trust that we’ll make a larger sustainable impact on our industry and offer the highest quality of future-proof offices to our tenants.’
Norman Fackelmann, head of Real Estate BVK, said: ‘We are very pleased to be able to enter into this future-oriented and proven cooperation with Allianz Real Estate and Edge. The properties, particularly in terms of ESG and digitalization, will play a pioneering role and we will thus live up to our responsibility as Germany's largest public-law pension group.’
Greenberg Traurig acted as legal advisors for Allianz Real Estate and Edge; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted for BVK.
