DEAL IN DEPTH: Siemens' Dutch HQ to go 'green'

The new owner of Siemens' Dutch headquarters plans to give the complex a green facelift and to create flexible work places. An analysis of the deal, including an estimate of the investment volume, is available below for premium members.

Market sources believe that Amsterdam-based investor PingProperties paid €77.5 mln for Siemens' Dutch headquarters in the Beatrix Quarter of The Hague.

The investment volume makes it one of the largest office transactions in the Netherlands, and certainly the largest in The Hague, so far this year.

The four-building complex comprises 30,000 m2 of leasable area and 542 parking space. The German conglomerate is to remain in the property on a 12-year lease. The rent Siemens is paying was kept confidential but recently a deal involving international telecom's group AT&T was agreed in the Beatrix Quarter at €185 per m2, with 'market-level' incentives.

PingProperties is placing the asset in a new, dedicated closed-end fund, PingProperties Corproate Office Fund VII. As part of the transaction the buyer has agreed on a substantial investment plan to upgrade the complex's sustainability credentials to LEED Gold standard and to make the space suitable for flexible working, dubbed 'nieuwe werken' (new working) in Dutch.

This is in line with the recent decision by the local municipality to have the Beatrix Quarter develop as a sustainable district in accordance with the BREEAM-NL standard.

Siemens' Dutch head office has been in The Hague since 1879 and it has been at the current location since 1972. It has been known for some time that Siemens was searching for a buyer for the headquarters as part of the multinational's strategy to reduce its global real estate portfolio. 'Our preference is to invest our money on research into new sustainable products than to keep it locked up in bricks and mortar,' Siemens Dutch boss Ab van der Touw said in a statement.

Siemens was advised in the transaction by Jones Lang LaSalle and law firm Houthoff Buruma. Loyens & Loeff, PwC and CVO Groep acted for PingProperties.