European private equity firm Orion Capital Partners is buying the massive 'Odin' office portfolio from funds managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management, PropertyEU has learned.
European private equity firm Orion Capital Partners is buying the massive 'Odin' office portfolio from funds managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management, PropertyEU has learned.
Well-informed market sources told PropertyEU that Orion has signed a preliminary agreement to buy the 20-asset office package for some €600 mln.
The deal, which was first reported by Immobilien Zeitung, is expected to close shortly.
Orion declined to comment. Credit Suisse was not immediately available for comment.
Credit Suisse is believed to be selling the assets as part of the liquidation of its open-ended funds, the €3.2 bn CS Euroreal and the smaller CS Property Dynamic. The portfolio was put on the market last summer through Brookfield Financial and consists of around 20 buildings, largely for office use. It is believed to include the German headquarters of electronics group Philips in Hamburg.
Credit Suisse has until April 30, 2017, to liquidate CS Euroreal. The fund's German portfolio mainly includes office properties in Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg.
Retail focus
The Odin transaction is notable as Orion's recent activity has centred on the retail property sector. Following the disposal of three shopping centres from its opportunistic Fund III, Orion is busy buying retail assets for its €1.3 bn successor fund. Orion launched Fund IV in December 2014, raising €1.3 bn of equity commitments.
Recent transactions include the purchase out of insolvency of the Lilien Carré shopping centre in the German city of Wiesbaden for around €100 mln; a portfolio of three shopping centres in northeast Italy from Unicomm for a price understood to be around €200 mln and the joint purchase with Cerberus of a Spanish tourist resort in Cadiz from NH Hotels Group for €225 mln.
Orion Capital Managers is a London-headquartered private equity real estate investment firm with a European focus on value-add and opportunistic transactions. It is wholly owned by its founding partners and has offices in London, Madrid, Milan and Paris.