Infrared, GCI bag Paris T9 office tower from Carlyle

A joint venture of Infrared Capital Partners (InfraRed) and Générale Continentale Investissements (GCI) has acquired the T9 office tower located in Montreuil, an eastern suburb of Paris, from a fund managed by The Carlyle Group.

Financial details were not disclosed. The deal was financed by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.

The building offers 42,860 m2 of office space, a staff restaurant as well as parking space for 386 vehicles. It has recently been retrofitted to gain a green HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale) rating. The building is currently let to three tenants for 50% of the office space. It is situated near a metro station and in an area which has benefited from extensive regeneration, including the opening of a new shopping centre, residential buildings and a new cinema and theatre.

Carlyle bought the asset in 2006 for its CEREP II fund and completely restructured it. The complex was formerly the headquarters of French social security firm URSSAF (Unions de Recouvrement des Cotisations de Sécurité Sociale et d'Allocations Familiales).

'We are delighted to expand our French portfolio with this quality asset,' said Cédric Vallin, responsible for French Investments at InfraRed. 'Our strategy on this building is to re-think the positioning by improving the services and the common areas, setting more competitive rents and establishing a new and active marketing campaign. This will enable us to realise the full potential of the asset and to reap the benefit of the local regeneration.'

Raphael Raingold, head of Investments at GCI, added: 'T9 office tower matches GCI’s target segment of accessing quality assets in growing markets. The local authorities have completely re-urbanised the area in recent years. With the asset repositioning we plan to implement, we are confident we will attract quality tenants for the vacant space.'

The vendor was advised by BNP Paribas Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield.

The buyer’s advisors included Gide and Etude Le Breton & Associés for the acquisition and Olswang for the debt financing.

The transaction follows GCI's sale earlier this year of the Eden Monceau central Paris office complex to fund manager Real IS. The 6,400 m2 building, which was sold in a joint venture with Rockspring Property Investment Managers, was recently entirely re-let to Shearman & Sterling, the international law firm, which uses it as its Paris headquarters.