IVG buys €500m German development portfolio together with pension fund

IVG Immobilien, Germany's largest listed property firm, has acquired a prime development portfolio valued at €500 mln from Freo Group.

The package, consisting of three office and retail properties in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin, is earmarked for a Luxembourg-based fund.

Bonn-based IVG said the investor behind the deal is an unnamed German pension fund. IVG will perform fund and asset management for this mandate and is also a co-investor.

The parties have agreed to keep the purchase price and the name of the investor confidential.

The properties consist of the One Goetheplaza and T11 development projects in Frankfurt as well as the K195 scheme in Berlin. Each of the three properties has a prime inner-city location and an attractive tenant mix.

One Goetheplaza is an office and commercial property offering 13,700 m2 of gross lettable area, 5,100 m2 of which consists of retail space that is let to tenants such as Louis Vuitton, Escada, Omega and Nespresso. The tenants of the office space include law firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek.

The Taunusanlage 11 property is a fully renovated office tower in the heart of Frankfurt’s banking district, opposite the head office of Deutsche Bank. The main tenant of the total space of around 9,700 m2 will be law firm Gleiss Lutz.

Kurfürstendamm 195 is a building complex consisting of renovated older properties and new buildings with a total lettable area of more than 15,000 m2.

The transaction is in line with IVG's club deal strategy for institutional investors, said Steffen Ricken, managing director of IVG Institutional Funds responsible for product development.

'Fund and asset management from a single source, a clear commitment as a co-investor and the broad range of extremely diverse investment vehicles available to us, including outside Germany, mean that we are able to deliver tailored investment solutions for almost all investor requirements,' commented Wolfgang Schäfers, CEO of IVG Immobilien.

Clifford Chance advised the vendor on the sale.