Prime Office REIT has sold SZ Tower, the headquarters of publisher Süddeutscher Verlag, in Munich to strengthen its liquidity and reduce leverage.

Prime Office REIT has sold SZ Tower, the headquarters of publisher Süddeutscher Verlag, in Munich to strengthen its liquidity and reduce leverage.

An international investment consortium acquired SZ Tower from the German real estate investment trust for €164 mln. The contract was notarised on 20 November 2013 and the transaction is scheduled to close by end-December.

The tower provides 62,240 m2 of leasable area.

'With the sale of the SZ Tower we meet a material criterion of the business combination agreement with OCM German Real Estate Holding and take a further scheduled step towards the merger. At the same time, we clearly reach our target of increasing the equity ratio of Prime Office above 45% and comply insofar with the legally specified REIT equity ratio by the end of 2013', said Alexander von Cramm, member of the executive board of Prime Office REIT.

Colliers International represented Prime Office.

In May 2013 Prime Office REIT started negotiations to merge with non-listed OCM German Real Estate Holding, a subsidiary of private equity group Oaktree.