US-based private equity investor Lone Star Funds has closed the acquisition of a portfolio of 32 office buildings in the Netherlands from CBRE Global Investors' Dutch Office Fund.
US-based private equity investor Lone Star Funds has closed the acquisition of a portfolio of 32 office buildings in the Netherlands from CBRE Global Investors' Dutch Office Fund.
Although the financial details were not disclosed, the 302,000 m2 package is understood to have changed hands for just over €380 mln, according to well-informed market sources.
The purchase, the first for Lone Star's Real Estate Fund III in the Netherlands, is believed to be the largest office transaction in the country since the credit crisis.
The buildings are located in 12 cities spread over the Netherlands, including Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, Heerlen, Maastricht and Zwolle.
With an occupancy rate of 75%, the portfolio includes landmark assets such as the WTC Papendorp in Utrecht, De Haagse Arc in The Hague, the Coolse Poort in Rotterdam and Gelissendomein in Maastricht.
CBRE Global Investors was advised by CBRE, JLL, DTZ Zadelhoff and Houthoff Buruma. Lone Star was advised by Savills, Loyens Loeff and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.
Following the sale, the CBRE Dutch Office Fund owns around €1.2 bn of assets and comprises 27 properties with a total of circa 400,000 m2 lettable office space. DOF owns the entirety of the World Trade Center in Amsterdam as well as a 50% stake in the World Trade Center Schiphol.
For Lone Star, the acquisition represents the first direct buy into Dutch real estate, marking a new direction for the American debt-focussed investor. In May, Lone Star also made its first direct investment into the London real estate market by acquiring an island site in Elephant & Castle.
Lone Star, acting on behalf of its Real Estate Fund III, joined forces with luxury London developer Oakmayne Properties to transform the former Eileen House location into a 41-storey residential tower providing 335 new homes, as well as office and retail space.
Lone Star Real Estate Fund III was formed in October 2013 after raising $7 bn (€5.1 bn) in capital commitments.
Dutch sell-off
The latest office sale by CBRE Global Investors following a strategic review aimed at improving liquidity in its Dutch office fund. The fund, whose investors include several Dutch pension funds such as Stichting Pensioenfonds KLM-Cabinepersoneel, Stichting Algemeen Pensioenfonds Vliegend Personeel KLM, Stichting Pensioenfonds Blue Sky Group and Stichting Total Pensioenfonds Nederland, has been selling non-core assets for the past months.
In December last year DOF sold six office buildings to Blackstone for €165 mln in the largest real estate transaction by volume in the Dutch market in 2013. The portfolio comprised the Cross Towers in Amsterdam; Weenatoren and 200Weena in Rotterdam; and Forum, Sirius and Orion in The Hague.
In September a joint venture of Goldman Sachs and Rotterdam-based OVG Real Estate bought a portfolio of eight DOF office properties for around €120 mln.
The portfolio, totalling 62,000 m2, included Olympic Offices, Vivaldi Offices I & II and Centerpoint I & II in Amsterdam; Alexander Poort and Alexander Hof in Rotterdam and Het Binnenhof in Den Bosch.
