Avignon Capital, the European property investment firm, has acquired a purpose-built property in The Hague, let to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for €38 mln.
The property is located at Johan de Wittlaan 32 in the International Peace and Justice District of The Hague, home to numerous UN or UN-related organisations. The asset comprises 16,734 m2 of leasable floor area divided over basement, ground floor and seven upper floors, having been built-to-suit in 1998.
The vendors were CK Capital Partners and Monarch Alternative Capital, who acquired the building from a German fund for €24 mln in 2014.
OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997. As of today, OPCW has 192 Member States, who are working together to achieve a world free of chemical weapons. It is an independent, autonomous international organization, funded by the member countries, with a working relationship with the United Nations.
The organisation has made recent improvements in order to upgrade the property’s Energy Efficiency Label: 80% of the office areas have been fitted with movement sensor light-switching, and the HVAC installations saw a complete renovation, upgrading its Energy Label to ‘A’.
Patrick Flaton, chief financial and operating officer at Avignon Capital, said: 'The deal to acquire the OPCW building presented us with an off-market opportunity to acquire a purpose-built asset that has a strong relationship with the UN and its member nations.'
This is Avignon Capital’s second acquisition in the Dutch market, following the purchase of the NH Amsterdam Zuid hotel for 48.5m in April 2017. The firm has identified the Netherlands as a focus area within its European expansion strategy, where it sees multiple real estate investment opportunities across a variety of sectors.
Avignon's had €650 mln of assets under management at the end of the first quarter of 2017, 103 properties across 5 countries in its portfolio.
