A fund managed by international investment manager Credit Suisse Asset Management has acquired an office in central Berlin from global investment manager Barings.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The asset at Chausseestrasse 23 / Zinnowitzer Strasse 2, built in 1998, comprises 19,400 m2 of office space and is fully let to Vattenfall. The tenant plans to vacate the property once its new headquarters building is completed in Berlin- Südkreuz.
'We completed the initial phase of our business plan for Chausseestrasse 23, which included the carving out of an additional 1,500 m2 of rental space and an agreed early departure of Vattenfall to secure a reversionary interest,' said Christoph Wittkop, Barings managing director and real estate country head Germany. 'The strength of the Berlin market led us to sell the asset at an earlier stage of the business plan, thereby delivering attractive returns for our client.'
Barings acquired the seven-story office building almost three years ago on behalf of an institutional investor as part of a core investment strategy.
'The Berlin office market is characterised by historically low vacancy rates. Large areas available at short notice are limited, especially in prime locations,' said Holger Herb, head of real estate EMEA at Credit Suisse Asset Management. 'This property offers repositioning potential that can be realised in the short to medium term and enables us to provide the Berlin office market with attractive, modern office space.'
Savills and Grossmann & Berger managed the structured bidding process as part of an exclusive consulting mandate and acted as intermediaries.
Ashurst LLP (legal), WITTE Projektmanagement (technology) and Ernst & Young (tax) acted as legal advisers to the seller, whilst P+P Pöllath und Partners (legal), Ernst & Young (tax), Gleeds (technology) and Strabag AG (commercial) advised the buyer.
