Northern German bank Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) said on Thursday that it provided EUR 350 mln financing to Bonn-based property company IVG for the acquisition of the 'The Square' office building in Luxembourg. The bank was the arranger and underwriter for what was it says was one of the largest real estate financing operations in Luxembourg in recent years.

Northern German bank Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) said on Thursday that it provided EUR 350 mln financing to Bonn-based property company IVG for the acquisition of the 'The Square' office building in Luxembourg. The bank was the arranger and underwriter for what was it says was one of the largest real estate financing operations in Luxembourg in recent years.

IVG announced last November it was acquiring the four-building property in a EUR 350 mln sale-and-leaseback transaction from Clearstream International, Deutsche Boerse Group's securities settlement and custody provider. The European Court of Justice is also renting space in the 50,000 m2 complex located in the Kirchberg area of Luxembourg City.

'The deal shows once more that Nord/LB plays a prominent role in the commercial real estate business,' Andreas Pohl, global head of commercial real estate at the bank said in a statement. Nord/LB's real estate financing portfolio has a volume a of EUR 10.5 bn, and the bank brought in EUR 6 bn of new business last year. Pohl said Nord/LB intends to expand the business further with the focus on Germany, Luxembourg, France, the UK, Japan and the US.