SEB acquires Potsdamer Platz portfolio

SEB Asset Management has acquired the Quartier Potsdamer Platz portfolio in Central Berlin from German car maker Daimler. The portfolio comprises 19 properties with a total space of about 285,000 m². Office and administrative space account for 42% of the lettable area, while 22% is for retail use. The remaining space consists of residential, hotel accommodation and leisure facilities. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

Although SEB and Daimler agreed not to disclose the purchase price, market sources suggested a transaction volume of some EUR 1.5 bn. This would mean a major loss for Daimler which bought the land in 1990 from the state and invested about EUR 2 bn since then to build one of Europe's largest developments. The complex, designed by an international team of architects led by Renzo Piano, eventually opened in 1998.

Daimler said that the major disposal was in line with its strategy to concentrate on its core business.

The portfolio also comprises the neighbouring Gleisdreieck car park providing a total of 3,877 parking spaces. The occupancy rate is almost 95% and the average lease term of the overall portfolio is 6.1 years. SEB said that part of the assets contain properties offering attractive appreciation potential over the medium-term.

The acquisition follows the sale by SEB of 26 properties in Germany this year . 'Berlin is experiencing rising rents and growing investor confidence, which in turn will strengthen the market for real estate investments in the coming years,' the Swedish banking group's real estate fund management unit said.

SEB also said the deal demonstrated that equity-rich investors are profiting from the current shortage of liquidity in the market, and that large transactions can be completed - with much less competition.

Since the beginning of the year, SEB Asset Management has entered into transactions totalling over EUR 4 bn globally for its four real estate funds.