Oxford Properties, part of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), has confirmed the acquisition of the Sony Center in Berlin for €1.1 bn from Korea’s national pension service, as anticipated by PropertyEU's sister publication EuroProperty earlier this year.
The 112,000 m2 mixed-use scheme in Potsdammer Platz is being acquired in a joint venture with US investor Madison International Realty.
The scheme was developed on a site of nearly 2.4 ha and includes eight individual buildings, including the 85,000 m2 Bahn Tower offices, 20,000 m2 of retail and leisure and 67 residential units. Office occupiers include Deutsche Bahn, Facebook, Sanofi, Sony, the State of Berlin and WeWork, while retail occupiers include LegoLand, IMAX and Cinestar.
The deal follows OMERS’ recently announced €500 mln acquisition of Window in La Défense, Paris, and brings Oxford’s continental European assets under management to approximately €2.3 bn, representing 40% of Oxford’s total UK & European AUM.
Oxford Properties’ executive vice president and senior managing director Europe, Paul Brundage, said: ‘This acquisition is a meaningful step toward achieving our stated strategy of reaching C$5 bn [€3.4 bn] of assets under management in Continental Europe by 2020, focusing on Berlin and Paris. This strategy is backed up by our long-standing commitment to the central London office, high street retail and build-to-rent residential sectors. This acquisition gives Oxford the scale to build a platform in Berlin with an “on-the-ground” team.’
PropertyEU reported in May that NPS was selling the flagship asset for over €1 bn. NPS and its joint venture partner Hines appointed Eastdil Secured and BNP Paribas Real Estate to find a buyer for the mixed-use estate which makes up a large chunk of the famous Potsdamer Platz scheme in the German capital.
The deal sees NPS crystallise a massive profit on an acquisition made at the depths of the downturn. Advised by Hines, NPS bought the scheme in May 2010 from a joint venture between Corpus Sireo, the John Buck company and a fund managed by Morgan Stanley, for €575 mln.
'This strategic defensive sale exceeded our expectations and we are poised to continue to invest in global real estate in a selective manner,' commented Scott Kim, head of Global Real Estate, National Pension Service of Korea.
The acquisition will complete in the fourth quarter of 2017. CBRE and Greenberg Traurig advised Oxford and Madison, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer represented Madison. Hines advised NPS Korea.
Oxford’s European portfolio now comprises 17 assets in London, Paris and Berlin with a combined value of €5.5 bn, including St James’s Market, The Post Building in London and Avenue de France and Rue Blanche in Paris.
