Credit Suisse buys office property in Austria for EUR 24.5m

Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien Kapitalanlagegesellschaft has acquired a 11,600 office building in Austria for EUR 24.5mln. The seller was San Diego-based Westcore Properties, which opened a European office in the Swiss city of Lausanne last year.

The six-storey, class-A building is located in the Wienerburg submarket of Vienna and was acquired by Westcore as part of a three-building portfolio from electronics giant Philips for $108mln in February 2007. Westcore chairman Marc Brutten said the disposal was the culmination of a process to add value to the asset. 'Our team improved the physical plant and exterior while renegotiating the major leases to new 10-year terms, creating significant value,' he said.

Westcore Properties owns and manages its property assets in Europe through Westcore Sarl, which is responsible for operations throughout Europe. Westcore Sarl has acquired some 160,000 m² of industrial and office buildings in Switzerland and Austria in the last 15 months. In May 2008, Westcore Properties expanded and diversified its European operations with the opening of Airport Development Partners SA, an affiliate focused on the acquisition, operation and development of regional airports in Europe. Airport-related projects currently are being pursued in Switzerland, Austria and Poland.