Swiss Life Asset Managers has acquired a single-tenant office building in Cologne from local investment manager WealthCap.
The transaction volume was not disclosed but ran into nine figures.
The 38,000 m2 asset is being refurbished to house Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Europe, owner of global retail businesses such as Saks Off 5th and Hudson’s Bay Netherlands, as well as department store chain Galeria Kaufhof.
'With the acquisition of the HBC Europe Service Centre in Cologne, we are delighted to be able to offer our investors an office property with a long-term lease in an excellent Cologne city centre location,' commented Ingo Hartlief, CEO and spokesperson of Swiss Life KVG, the Swiss Life subsidiary which purchased the asset. The deal represents one of the first acquisitions by Swiss Life KVG, which was founded at the end of November 2016.
'Before the sale, we were able to extend the lease agreement of the top property and therefore increase the value of the property during the holding period of the fund by more than 30% through active asset management. With this sale, we achieved a very positive result for the investors in our HFS Deutschland 16 fund,' said Gabriele Volz, managing director of WealthCap.
Corpus Sireo, the German property subsidiary of Swiss Life Asset Managers, was responsible for sourcing as well as the purchasing and due diligence processes and received legal advice from Pöllath + Partners. JLL played an intermediary role as the transaction consultant.
