Art-Invest Real Estate has made its entry into the Austrian property market with the purchase of the Millennium Tower office complex in Vienna.
The 50-storey skyscraper was bought on behalf of a special fund set up by Art-invest for institutional investor Rheinische Versorgungskassen.
Financial details were kept confidential. However, the asset is believed to be worth over €350 mln.
The 40,000 m2 office complex was initially put up for sale two years ago by landlords Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) and Austrian retail specialist CC Real.
The owners had bought the property in 2014 for a bargain price of €320 mln in the country's largest transaction of the year. The vendor was a fund managed by Hamburg-based investment manager MPC Capital, which bought the complex from its owner George Stumpf in 2003 for €360 mln.
Millennium Tower opened in 1999 and is one of Austria’s tallest office buildings at 202 metres. Millennium City, the adjacent entertainment and shopping centre, was built in 2003 and offers more than 100 shops and a state-of-the-art entertainment section which together represent 53,000 m2.
Miguel Freund, deputy managing director of Rheinische Versorgungskassen, commented: 'Vienna is a stable, promising investment location for us. We are delighted to have been able to acquire such an outstanding building in the growing metropolis of Vienna together with Art-Invest.'
'With this acquisition, Art-Invest is entering the Austrian market, opening up additional investment opportunities for our investors in the long term. The focus of our investment activities will be in the metropolis of Vienna with a focus on office, retail, hotel with all risk / return profiles. We will also be watching attractive locations such as Salzburg or Innsbruck,' said Ferdinand Spies, managing director of Art-Invest responsible for business in Austria.
Art-Invest Real Estate was advised by CBRE. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal.
