Morgan Stanley buys DekaBank's HQ

German DekaBank has sold the 186-metre tall Trianon office tower in the Frankfurt banking district to Morgan Stanley Real Estates Eurozone Office Fund (MSEOF) for a sum believed to be in the region of EUR 620 mln. Trianon is the fifth-highest building in Frankfurt.

'DekaBank will continue to use Trianon as its group headquarters in the future. At the same time, the sale will expand our scope for continued growth in our core asset management business,' explained DekaBank's Chairman Franz Waas.

'We want to reduce our group-owned properties', a spokeswoman for Deka told PropertyEU, 'and with this transaction Deka is completing the sale of group-owned properties'. In 2006, the company already sold the Skyper and Alkmene office buildings in Frankfurt.

The deal is in line with MSEOF's strategy of investing in high-quality properties with long-term stable cash flows in established markets with growth potential. The MSEOF core fund portfolio already includes buildings in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Germany. The fund was advised by Morgan Stanley.

The Trianon building complex comprises six units: the 44-storey office tower, completed in 1993, at Mainzer Landstraße 16, the historic Villa Seligman at Mainzer Landstraße 18, three residential properties with 43 units at Klüberstraße 6-10 as well as a residential and a mixed-use residential/commercial building with eight flats and a restaurant at Zimmerweg 8. The total gross lettable area comes to 70,000 m². DekaBank will continue to use about half of the space of the office tower. Other principal tenants include international law firm Linklaters as well as additional international financial service providers.