RREEF makes first Chinese investment

RREEF's acquisition of an office building in the Chinese city of Dalian for its grundbesitz-global fund marks the first property deal in China on behalf of one of the German group's open-ended funds. The office property was acquired from Hong Kong property group Shui On Group for EUR 105 mln.

The 40-storey 'Xiwang Tower' has around 68,000 m² of office space as well as parking facilities for 400 vehicles.

'Dalian is an important business hub with strong growth prospects. We consider Xiwang Tower to be an attractive long-term investment and one of just two buildings in the city that meet our international investment criteria. We don’t think there will be any buildings of comparable quality coming to market there before 2011,' said Holger Naumann, head of RREEF in Germany.

The office tower is located in Dalian's central business district, around 10 kilometres from the city's international airport. The city, which has around 5.7 million inhabitants, is also home to the third biggest port in northern China.

Following, this acquisition, around 19% of RREEF's grundbesitz-global fund - or eight of the 53 properties in the fund - is invested in Asia. An additional 63% in invested in Europe, with the remaining stake invested in the US. The fund, which invests mainly in offices, has around EUR3.5bn of assets under management.