US group Prudential Financial's real estate investment management business PGIM Real Estate has signed a €500 mln forward purchase agreement on a three-property development portfolio in Vienna.
The deal, which involves the bulk of Signa Holding's Austria Campus inner-city development project at Praterstern, is so far Austria's biggest real estate transaction of 2017. It is also believed to be the largest office transaction ever signed in the country, representing some 40% of the 2017 forecast total transaction volume of about €3 bn, Signa said.
'This successful “forward deal” once again proves, after our sale of The Icon Vienna in June 2017, that the Vienna real estate market enjoys a high demand among international investors,' commented Signa's CEO Christoph Stadlhuber.
Started in 2015, Austria Campus encompasses a total of six buildings with over 200,000 m2. The first three buildings representing 130,000 m2 due for completion in the summer of 2018, have been sold to PGIM Real Estate, acting on behalf of German and Swiss institutional investors. They are over 90% leased to tenants including Unicredit Bank Austria, which by itself has agreed to let over half of the total project under an 18-year lease and will relocate its headquarters to the offices.
The project also includes a Roomz hotel, a Hofer supermarket as well as one of the biggest kindergartens in Vienna.
'PGIM Real Estate’s acquisition of the Austriacampus represents a unique opportunity to add to their portfolios a long-term secured income producing asset, in a city with strong economic growth and increasing employment,' said Sebastiano Ferrante, head of Germany and Italy at PGIM Real Estate.
CBRE and JLL advised Signa on the deal.
Signa, owned by businessman René Benko, owns about €10 bn of real estate in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. In July the company's development arm also sold the Icon Vienna office scheme to Allianz Real Estate for a price around €500 mln.
Earlier this year Signa reinforced its position in the Austrian property market with the acquisition of developer Bauträger Austria Immobilien from UniCredit Bank Austria.
Signa teamed up with an investor group formed around Erwin Krause and Franz Kollitsch on a 50-50 basis to take over the renowned Viennese property developer BAI, whose portfolio includes 18 projects representing over 440,000 m2.
