AXA Real Estate sells office in Barcelona

A fund managed by AXA Real Estate has sold the @Mar office building at calle Pallars 195 in Barcelona to privately-held investor Autonomy Capital.

Financial details were kept confidential.

Located in the 22@ district of the city, the asset is multi let and offers 12,600 m2 of offices as well as 216 parking spaces.

Cushman & Wakefield advised AXA Real Estate while CBRE acted for the buyer.

'Barcelona is a key market for international investors which see the value creation potential of the market due to the strong correction in values experienced over the past five years,' commented Anna Esteban, head of the investment department of CBRE in Barcelona.

The disposal follows hard on the heels of AXA Real Estate's comeback to the Spanish property market. In late June, the French investment manager clinched its first office acquisition in Spain since the onset of the financial crisis with the purchase of a portfolio of up to 13 government-let office buildings in Barcelona, as part of a sale-and-leaseback transaction with local authority Generalitat de Catalunya for €172 mln.

Under the terms of the transaction, the Catalunya local authorities will continue to occupy the buildings, having signed a new 20-year lease providing a total annual rent of €16.2 mln.

The office buildings are all located in the central business district or city centre of Barcelona and comprise a total floor area of over 105,000 m2, including parking and storage. AXA Real Estate won a competitive public tender process to acquire the portfolio.

Following the acquisition, AXA Real Estate will manage a €1.3 bn portfolio of assets in Spain, of which €540 mln are in Barcelona.