German bank Helaba is to act as the sole underwriter in the deal for Frankfurt's Silberturm, the iconic office tower which was acquired by Austrian family office Imfarr and Swiss holding company SN Beteiligungen at the end of 2020.
The Frankfurt-headquarted bank said it was structuring the financing for the acquisition on behalf of the joint venture, which snapped up the trophy asset and surrounding site from the Samsung Group for a total volume close to €700 mln.
Helaba is providing a substantial portion of the senior lending for the deal, the bank revealed.
Fritz Müller, head of real estate finance Germany at Helaba, said: 'We are proud that, in closing this transaction, we have once again been able to demonstrate our structuring expertise while continuing to build on our business relationship with the joint venture between Imfarr and Ketterer.'
The Silver Tower or Silberturm stands at 166-metres high, and is situated in a prime office location in Frankfurt's central business district between the railway station and the financial quarter.
Sole tenant Deutsche Bahn occupies 50,000 m2 of offices in the tower, as well as using an adjoining property of 22,000 m2 assigned to board and executive functions.
The 36-storey office tower, which was built in 1978, was fully refurbished in 2012, when Deutsche Bahn moved in. Korea's Samsung SRA Asset Management bought the property in 2014 from IVG for around €450 mln.
The joint venture's play for the Silberturm marks the second major deal by Imfarr and SN after their acquisition last year of the Omega portfolio, comprising the non-core assets of Hypo Vereinsbank.
