NSI in second acquisition in Switzerland

Dutch investor Nieuwe Steen Investments has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of Credit Suisse for the acquisition of the Silvergate office building in Thalwil, Switzerland, for a total amount of CHF 44 mln (EUR 27 mln). The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Together with the acquisition of the Herti shopping centre in Zug, this is the second deal made by the Dutch company outside its home market, bringing the total international portfolio to CHF EUR 79 mln (EUR 49 mln).

The Silvergate office is located in Thalwil, a suburb of Zurich. Developed in the 1990s, the building consist of more than 11,000 m² of space with 387 parking spaces. The property is leased to several tenants, such as the international companies Cosmorex, Colgate and Credit Suisse. The current annual rent amounts to about EUR 2 mln. The tenants’ contracts have a weighted average lease term of more than four years. The current vacancy rate in the building comes to about 16%.

The transaction will be largely financed by local banks at an interest rate of about 3.4% for a period of five years, NSI said.

‘This acquisition marks the next step for us in the internationalisation of our investment portfolio. Our aim is to build up an investment portfolio in about three years time of about EUR 1 bn outside the Netherlands, in particular in Switzerland, Germany and Austria’, CEO Anka Reijnen said.