AXA Real Estate has acquired an office property in London’s Hammersmith district and a residential development site in the east German city of Dresden.

AXA Real Estate has acquired an office property in London’s Hammersmith district and a residential development site in the east German city of Dresden.

The pan-European investment manager has purchased 77 Fulham Palace Road, an office complex comprising four buildings, from Nordea Property Investment.

Financial details were not disclosed but PropertyEU has learned that AXA paid £80 mln (€101 mln) for the 17,930 m2 property, which is let to 19 tenants on a wide range of floor sizes. The asset incorporates 221 parking spaces.

In a statement AXA Real Estate said the acquisition is in line with its value-add strategy, which is focused on office, retail, logistics, hotel and alternative real estate assets in Europe’s key real estate markets. The firm plans to increase the current floor space at 77 Fulham Palace Road by 1,755 m2 and transform the property into Grade A office space.

Recent examples of other value-add acquisitions completed by AXA Real Estate on behalf of its clients inlcude the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam for €157 mln, the Bodio Centre business park in Milan for €63.9 mln and an office portfolio for €172 mln in Barcelona from Generalitat de Catalunya.

Separately, AXA Real Estate said it has purchased a residential development site in the East German city of Dresden from a local developer. The transaction was carried out on behalf of AXA’s German multi-family residential fund, AXA Immoresidential. The financial details were not disclosed.

The 9,600 m2 development will incorporate 135 residential apartments spread over nine separate buildings, representing a total lettable area of around 12,900 m2 as well as 139 underground parking spaces.

The construction phase started at the beginning of September and is expected to complete in the second half of 2016.

Launched in February 2009, AXA Immoresidential is an open-ended special fund which invests on behalf of German institutional clients. It is managed by AXA Investment Managers Deutschland with portfolio and asset management services from AXA Real Estate.

Commenting on the Dresden deal, Matthias Leube, managing director of real estate within AXA Investment Managers Deutschland, said: ‘The increased demand we are seeing from institutional investors to be holders of multi-family housing in Germany is a trend that we expect will be maintained due to the favourable low risk/return profile of the asset class. We will continue to increase our presence in this sector to provide our clients access to the best investment opportunities.’