Samsung in talks to buy Frankfurt tower for €450m

South Korean investor Samsung SRA Asset Management is understood to be under offer to buy the Silver Tower in Frankfurt from IVG Institutional Funds.

The 32-storey office tower is being acquired for around €450 mln, according to well-informed market sources.

The deal would be the first acquisition in mainland Europe by Samsung SRA, the wholly-owned real estate fund management subsidiary of Samsung Life Insurance, a sister company of the global electronics giant which co-invests in SRA's funds.

IVG bought the asset for €400 mln on behalf of a consortium of investors in 2011 from Commerzbank. IVG itself took a 10% share in the tower, which provides a total of 72,000 m2 on 36 storeys and is let in its entirety to railway company Deutsche Bahn.

Originally built in 1978, the 166-metre Silver Tower underwent a €100 mln renovation programme in 2009 and 2010.

Samsung SRA invests in core and core-plus commercial real estate in Korea and overseas on behalf of Korean institutions. Last year the fund manager chose the City of London for its first overseas real estate acquisition. Samsung SRA Asset Management, acting through Cushman & Wakefield Investors, acquired the London headquarters of law firm Pinsent Masons at 30 Crown Place, London EC2. The purchase price of £145 mln (€170 mln) reflected a net yield of 4.7%.

IVG declined to comment on the pending deal in Frankfurt.