Listed German property investor Patrizia Immobilien said it has signed a binding agreement to acquire the €800 mln Hesse portfolio from Austrian group CA Immobilien Anlagen.
Listed German property investor Patrizia Immobilien said it has signed a binding agreement to acquire the €800 mln Hesse portfolio from Austrian group CA Immobilien Anlagen.
CA Immo acquired the package, comprising 36 properties at 19 locations, in 2006 from the German state of Hesse in a sale-and-leaseback deal worth €770 mln. The acquisition marked the entry of the Austrian group into the German property market.
The assets, offering a total of 450,000 m2, are currently valued at €800 mln and are fully let on 20-year rental agreements.
Patrizia is undertaking the acquisition on behalf of a German-speaking consortium of investors via a special real estate fund.
In a statement, CA Immo said the sale is in line with the company's strategy to streamline the portfolio with a view to raising the profitability of the group. The closing of the transaction is expected for the fourth quarter of 2013.
Bruno Ettenauer, CEO of CA Immo, noted that the 'current market environment is ideal for selling the portfolio'. 'Strong demand for product of this kind and the low interest level have combined to provide us with the perfect window in the market cycle to sell the package of properties,' he said.
Ettenauer: 'The planned sale will also smooth the path for us to consolidate our balance sheet on the one hand while focusing energies on realising current development projects in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt as speedily and profitably as possible.'
CA Immo has been active in Germany since 2006. Five years ago the company took over Vivico Real Estate, a German company specialising in urban development. The CA Immo Group currently has a development pipeline valued at €660 mln in the country.
