Barings Real Estate Advisers has acquired an office and retail asset in Frankfurt on behalf of a German pension scheme.
The fund, which is administered by Institutional Investment Partners, has already inked deals in Berlin and Helsinki.
The vendor of the off-market transaction is a special fund managed by BNP Paribas REIM Germany. The transaction price was not disclosed.
The asset is a listed office and retail building with a total lettable area of 7,700 m2, located in the Gallus district of Frankfurt, which was refurbished in 2015.
'The property is outstandingly suitable for the manage-to-core approach that we are pursuing for the pension scheme,' commented Matthias Gerloff, managing director, Institutional Investment Solutions - Germany at Barings Real Estate Advisers.
At present, the only occupier of the six-storey building is the designer furniture chain Who's perfect – La Nuova Casa, which has taken around 50% of the accommodation on a long lease.
Barings Real Estate Advisers' Frankfurt team is taking over the asset management of the property and plans to carry out further refurbishment and upgrading to lease the remaining space.
'The location of the property is developing very positively, while demand for modern but characterful office buildings is generally increasing. Loft-style space, with high ceilings and a historic facade in an up-and-coming district, combined with our active management approach, are good prerequisites for achieving swift full letting of the property, enabling us fully to exploit the increased value potential of this investment,' added Sascha Becker, head of the Frankfurt branch at Barings Real Estate Advisers.
