Rubicon moves into Austria with EUR 58m purchase

Rubicon Europe Trust (REU) Group has moved into Austria with the purchase of two medical centres in Salzburg and Innsbruck for AUD $96.7 mln (EUR 58 mln) from Signa Holding. The transactions were bought by REU through a Luxembourg asset holding company at a 3.7% discount to the EUR 60.2 mln valuation of the properties.

Medicent Innsbruck comprises 7,182 m² of lettable area and is located approximately 1.5 km south west of Innsbruck city centre, near a major hospital. The property is 100% occupied with 21 tenants. Holmes Place is the anchor tenant with 3,769 m2, sub-let to Alfa sports, with the remaining tenants being medical specialists, together with serviced operating theatres. The initial yield on acquisition is 6.4% and the weighted average remaining lease term is 17.9
years.

Medicent Salzburg comprises 8,357 m² and is located approximately 1.5 km west of Salzburg city centre, near a major hospital. The property is 89.3% occupied with 16 tenants. Holmes Place is the anchor tenant with 4,600 m2, the remaining tenants being medical specialists, together with serviced operating theatres. The initial yield on acquisition is 6.4% and the weighted average remaining lease term is 17.5 years. The current total gross rental income for both properties, EUR 3.75 mln, including the vacant space in Salzburg, is covered by a three-year rental guarantee from the vendor.

REU was launched by Rubicon Asset Management of Australia in October 2005 and acquired a property portfolio for a total of EUR 580 mln in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands prior to the Austrian transactions. Recently, REU launched Rubicon Finance Europe with the acquisition of a EUR 207 mln portfolio of commercial real estate loan assets and EUR 149 mln capital raising which closed on 22 March 2007.

Property advisor DTZ has signed an exclusive long-term agreement to source real estate acquisitions for REU and provide asset and property management services.