A joint venture between Vienna-based Signa Recap Development Fund I and a large German insurance group has acquired a 100% interest in the IZD Tower in Vienna from Matrix European Real Estate Investment Trust (MEREIT) for over EUR 212 mln. Although the name of the insurance group was not disclosed, market sources suggest that the buyer is Germany's second largest insurer.
A joint venture between Vienna-based Signa Recap Development Fund I and a large German insurance group has acquired a 100% interest in the IZD Tower in Vienna from Matrix European Real Estate Investment Trust (MEREIT) for over EUR 212 mln. Although the name of the insurance group was not disclosed, market sources suggest that the buyer is Germany's second largest insurer.
The 38-storey property comprises approximately 63,000 m2 and is the largest office tower in Vienna. It is fully leased to a number of domestic and international occupiers including the Austrian railway company ÖBB, OMV, Borealis, Ernst & Young and Oracle.
Matrix, which had bought the building in October 2006 from Doughty Hanson for EUR 247 mln, has been under pressure to sell the property in order to raise much-needed liquidity to refinance loans with Lloyds Banking Group.
Signa Recap's Chief Executive Sebastian Greinacher, who recently moved to Signa Recap from Doughty Hanson, was involved in the development of the tower five years ago and led the acquisition process at Signa. 'When Matrix decided to sell the building, we were immediately interested, being aware of the high quality of the asset,' he told PropertyEU. The company plans to invest in the re-development of the scheme according to green standards, he added.
The acquisition was financed with EUR 150 mln of senior debt provided by a consortium of lenders led by Bank Austria.
Matrix was advised by Jones Lang LaSalle and Valartis Europe. Stephen Miles, director EMEA Capital Markets at JLL, said: 'This represents one of the largest single asset office transactions in Europe in the last 18 months and demonstrates that there is investor strength and depth for good quality assets, despite macroeconomic conditions that remain challenging across many markets.'
Signa Recap raised over EUR 200 mln of equity for its closed-end Signa Recap Development Fund I in March 2010. The equity was mostly committed by German and Austrian institutional investors. In April, the vehicle also bought the 16,000 m2 Sevens shopping centre in Duesseldorf in a joint venture with retail specialist Centrum Holding.
