Germany's BC Partners Real Estate (BCPRE) has acquired an existing light industrial building leased by Infineon Technologies, alongside a neighbouring site it already owns. The seller of the existing building is WP Carey.
BC Partners will team up with Garbe Institutional Capital as operating partner to further develop and manage the investment.
The site, located in Warstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, will be further developed to include a new building in timber hybrid construction to KfW 40 standard, aiming for BREEAM Excellent certification.
Both the existing building and development project will be leased by Infineon for 25 years with inflation-indexed and triple-net leases, starting upon the completion of the development.
While BCPRE is providing equity and operational expertise, Garbe is expected to bring asset and development management skills to the investment.
Infineon Technologies is a DAX40-listed semiconductor company with more than 55,000 employees worldwide. The doubling of space to 20,000 m2 will enable Infineon to further expand its strong growth at the Warstein site to over 2,200 employees including 600 engineers.
Alongside Munich and Dresden, Warstein is one of three locations for Infineon's semiconductor production, where the company has been rooted in research, development and production.
Laurian Douin, partner at BCPRE said: 'We are delighted to announce the second investment in Germany by our inaugural European real estate fund. We look forward to utilising our deep operational expertise to support the growth and development of Infineon’s mission-critical Warstein site, on which they are active in backend production, and research and development.
'The new build extension will involve a wooden-hybrid structure, and a strong focus on energy-performance and ESG-credentials means we are targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating, which aligns with our commitment to embedding ESG criteria and aspirations in all our projects.'
Andreas Höfner, managing director at Garbe in Frankfurt said: 'We are delighted to embark upon such project of special significance for us alongside BC Partners.
'On the one hand, we are supporting one of the world's leading companies in the semiconductor industry at a decisive point in a significant growth investment at a strategic location. On the other hand, we demonstrate with this project that the Garbe platform provides a clear benefit for our partners.'
Bank financing has been provided by a bank consortium led by Sparkasse Biberach. Advisors involved in the project include DLA Piper, Freshfields, Greenberg Traurig, Rödl & Partner, Gleeds, PwC, EY, BNP Paribas Real Estate and JLL.
