Eurosic agrees EUR 508m office sale to JP Morgan fund

French real estate investment trust Eurosic has signed a preliminary agreement to divest 54,500 m² of office space in Paris to a fund advised by JP Morgan Asset Management for a net sales price of EUR 508 mln.

The transaction, which was tipped by PropertyEU in December last year, involves 52 Hoche and Avant Seine, located in the eighth and 13th districts of Paris.

PropertyEU reported in December last year that Eurosic had put a EUR 500-600 mln core office portfolio in the Paris region on the market as part of its new value-add strategy. The Paris-based firm, which owns and manages a portfolio valued at EUR 1.4 bn, hired Catella to market the properties which were being sold for an average yield of 5.5%.

52 Hoche is fully let to law firm Allen & Overy, while Avant Seine is occupied by the BPCE group. The deal is expected to be closed at end-June, enabling Eurosic to collect most of the rental income on these buildings for the first half of the year.

The disposal is part of a major shift in Eurosic's goal to refocus the business on a value-add strategy. The company, which last year saw a change of its major shareholders after Charles Ruggieri's Batipart took control of the firm, recently bought a EUR 346 mln portfolio of 23 secondary assets from GE Capital Real Estate. Earlier this month Eurosic carried out a EUR 170 mln capital increase to finance the purchase, backed by the new majority owner and its allies, insurers Predica and ACM Vie.