Italian insurer Generali's property arm has announced the sale of a 50% share in the vehicle owner of the Tour Saint-Gobain in Paris La Défense to the independent asset management company Antirion's Global Comparto Core fund, owned by Fondazione Enpam, the Italian pension fund for doctors.
Although financial details were not disclosed, the asset is said to have a value of several hundred millions and represents Generali Real Estate's largest development project in the French capital. The deal was financed with a green loan from a primary pool of lending banks including Natixis (agent bank), Cacib, Deka Bank and Societé Generale.
Generali and in particular the group's French insurance subsidiaries will continue to hold 50% of the tower.
Developed by Generali and completed in December 2019, the 46-storey skyscraper is the headquarters of the Saint-Gobain Group and provides 47,000 m2 of space including a business centre, an auditorium, a fitness area and over 1,100 m2 of terraces. Designed by the architecture studio Valode & Pistre, it is the only building in France, and one of the few in the world, to have achieved all the major international environmental certifications at the highest levels: HQE Niveau 'Exceptionnel', High Energy Perfomance Label Effinergie +, LEED Certification 'Platinum' and BREEAM International 'Outstanding'.
'The operation allows us to strengthen our strategy aiming at a geographic diversification of investments, and to add to our portfolio a unique asset already considered a ‘green icon’ at international level. We are also pleased to continue to forge partnerships with top-level international operators, here in Paris, as well as in Stuttgart and London,' commented Ofer Arbib, CEO of Antirion SGR.
Aldo Mazzocco, head of private markets and real assets in the business unit Generali Asset & Wealth Management, and CEO at Generali Real Estate, said: 'We continue our practice of sharing 50% of the ownership of buildings of great importance in major European cities. This time it is a very modern skyscraper in the heart of La Défense, the financial district in Paris, in partnership with one of the most important institutional real estate investors in Italy, with whom we hope to consolidate the relationship of mutual trust, even beyond the of the real estate sector.'
