Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown has acquired a portfolio of six office and retail properties in Germany for EUR 380 mln. The 160,000 m[sup]2[/sup] portfolio was bought from a subsidiary of German property group Bayerische Bau und Immobilien Gruppe. It includes the Weißer Riese, Kustermannpark, and Pagodum properties in Munich and the Arabella Center in Frankfurt. Babcock & Brown said it is in talks with Australian joint venture partner GPT on becoming involved in the acquisition.
Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown has acquired a portfolio of six office and retail properties in Germany for EUR 380 mln. The 160,000 m2 portfolio was bought from a subsidiary of German property group Bayerische Bau und Immobilien Gruppe. It includes the Weißer Riese, Kustermannpark, and Pagodum properties in Munich and the Arabella Center in Frankfurt. Babcock & Brown said it is in talks with Australian joint venture partner GPT on becoming involved in the acquisition.
Babcock's real estate arm also completed the sale of a portfolio of 37 retail, office and mixed-use properties - some owned by the joint venture with GPT - for EUR 240 mln as part of the process of rebalancing its property portfolio in Europe. The sale, combined with the earlier disposal of two other European retail portfolios, reduces Babcock's balance sheet exposure to European retail property by approximately 40%. Babcock’s ceo Phil Green commented: 'The German office acquisition and the sell down and syndication of our European retail portfolio reflects the ongoing recycling of our capital and rebalancing of our portfolio.'
