Belgium's Befimmo is making its first investment in Luxembourg with a deal for the purchase of the shares in Axento, a company that owns an 'upmarket' office and retail real project on the Kirchberg Plateau in the north-east of Luxembourg City.
Belgium's Befimmo is making its first investment in Luxembourg with a deal for the purchase of the shares in Axento, a company that owns an 'upmarket' office and retail real project on the Kirchberg Plateau in the north-east of Luxembourg City.
The project, being developed by CIP Luxembourg, involves the construction of a new building with 10,500 m2 of office space and 1,600 m2 of retail space on John Fitzgerald Kennedy Avenue opposite the Auchan shopping centre. Befimmo said the project won a competition in Luxembourg for the quality of its architectural design and is therefore bound to turn into 'a landmark in the heart of Kirchberg'.
Building work will begin when planning permission is granted, probably in autumn 2007. Once the property is finished in the first half of 2009, the investment value of the project held by Axento will amount to EUR 95.4 mln.
Befimmo said the purchase is in line with the company's strategy. 'Indeed, the quality and location of this project make it an object of envy , indicating promising prospects of value creation, not least in a Luxembourg property market hampered by a supply of new office accommodation structurally below demand'. The transaction, due to be finalised in 2009, has been managed through property advisor Jones Lang LaSalle.
Befimmo is a fixed capital real estate investment trust (Siciafi) that manages an office portfolio mainly located in Brussels.
