London-based real estate fund manager Europa Capital has completed the acquisition of an office building in the vicinity of Paris, on behalf of its current pan-European investment fund, for €63 mln.
Europa Capital purchased the office building, Le Sémaphore, through a joint venture with France's Balzac REIM. The vendor was Deka Immobilien's open-ended real estate fund, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal.
Le Sémaphore is located in the Levallois-Perret district of the Greater Paris area. Completed in 2003 and renovated in 2008-9, the building comprises 11,500 m2 of office accommodation arranged over ground and seven upper floors around a landscaped internal courtyard. The property also offers parking for 265 vehicles on four basement levels.
The building is currently vacant, having previously been the headquarters of Cetelem, the personal finance division of BNP Paribas from 2007 until September 2016. Prior to that, the property had been the French headquarters of Marsh Insurance brokers for the four years from 2003.
Commenting on the acquisition, Jonathan Mansie, head of acquisitions for France at Europa Capital, said: 'This represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a landmark headquarters office building in an extremely attractive and sought after location. We are proposing a comprehensive refurbishment of the property to the highest of standards in accordance with the requirements of today’s corporate occupiers, and our leasing strategy will seek to capitalise on the current imbalance in supply and demand dynamics for buildings of a comparable size and specification in the Greater Paris Region.'
Europa Capital was advised on the acquisition by Balzac REIM, together with notary Le Breton & Associes, Dentons and CBRE.
Balzac REIM has been retained as the asset manager for the property. The renovation work is scheduled for completion during the second half of 2019.
