AXA Immoselect sells in Austria at big discount

AXA Real Estate’s open-ended Immoselect fund in liquidation has sold eight properties in Austria for a total €27 mln.

The sale price represents a discount of nearly 50% to the last valuation of around €49 mln, which the fund’s management said was due to ‘an extremely difficult rental situation’.

Five of the properties, ranging from hotels to offices and shops, are located in Salzburg-Wals, two in Salzburg itself and one in Oberturm am See.

AXA announced in late 2011 that it planned to liquidate its frozen €2.5 bn Immoselect fund following a wave of redemption requests. The fund has until end-October this year to sell the rest of its assets. Prior to the latest Austrian disposal, the Immoselect portfolio comprised 23 assets valued at around €700 mln.

Earlier this year, the fund sold its 49% stake in a portfolio of offices in Warsaw at an 18% discount to the latest appraised market value. Immoselect divested its interest in the P1 portfolio to joint venture partner CA Immo for €119 mln, compared to an appraised value of €145 mln at end-September 2013.

In 2013, the fund sold a portfolio of Dutch secondary properties for €140 mln, marking a 40% discount to the most recent independent valuation. It also sold the Grafenberger Höfe building in Dusseldorf for €30.5 mln, representing a 21% discount to the asset’s most recent market value. The property was valued at €42.5 mln at end April 2012.