Evans Randall swoops on Munich offices

Evans Randall has moved closer to its target of building a EUR 1 bn property portfolio across continental Europe with the completion of the acquisition of the Telekom Center in Munich, Germany for EUR 259 mln. The latest transaction, reflecting a net yield of 4.9%, bring the total invested by the privately-owned investment banking and private equity firm headed by Michael Evans to more than EUR 850 mln.

The Telekom Center comprises five, fifteen-storey double towers and a six-storey, circular building known as The Rotunda. The tower blocks are interconnected by covered glass footbridges at the first and fourteenth floors, and by open, servicing bridges on the sixth and tenth floors. In total, the complex provides 70,000 m² which is let to GMG Generalmietgesellschaft, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

Evans Randall said that with more than ten years unexpired on the lease, the investment has been acquired on an equivalent basis to a UK freehold. The vendor was an undisclosed real estate investment company.

CB Richard Ellis advised Evans Randall and debt finance was provided by Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking.

'Following just a few weeks after our investment in development of the Van Egeraat building in Amsterdam, for EUR 165 mln, this purchase in Munich demonstrates our commitment to building a property portfolio of unrivalled quality across mainland Europe,' Michael Evans said. 'We are now well on the way to achieving our EUR 1 bn goal, with over EUR 850 mln of funds now committed to the region, and we will continue to target Germany, the Netherlands Belgium and France over the coming months. We expect to make further announcements shortly.'

He said the acquisition forms part of Evans Randall's ongoing investment programme throughout Europe and brings total acquisitions by the group - in the UK and overseas - to around £2.7 bn in less than two years. Other major acquisitions which the group has made in mainland Europe include the recently developed EUR 220 mln Königsbau Passagen shopping centre in Stuttgart, and ING Bank's EUR 225 mln landmark building at Haagse Poort in The Hague, the Netherlands.