Tristan long-life fund debuts in Belgium with office buy

The property is Espace Rolin, a fully-let 19,839 m2 office building located on the fringe of the Leopold Quarter in Brussels’ decentralised business district. 

The joint venture purchased the asset from the real estate arm of Belgian insurer AG. The financial details were not disclosed.

Ali Otmar, senior partner and deputy head of investments at Tristan Capital, said 'Espace Rolin gives the fund an excellent opportunity to take exposure to the Brussels office market, which is poised for rental growth in the next 12-24 months due to virtually non-existent Grade A vacancy. We also look forward to expanding our footprint in the Belgian market not only through office exposure in Brussels but also in retail, logistics and mixed use schemes for our core plus and value-add funds.'

Espace Rolin is fully let, and its blue-chip tenants include BNP and INEA. Rynda Property Investors, which is co-investing alongside CCP 5, will be responsible for the asset management and day-to-day management of the building. Espace Rolin marks the second partnership between a Tristan-advised fund and Rynda. In December 2015, Rynda co-invested with the Curzon Capital Partners IV fund in the acquisition of E-Building, a high quality office building located at Munsbach, Luxembourg.

For AG Real Estate, the sale of Espace Rolin was part of its programme to dispose of 'ess institutional assets'. 'Those assets are mostly excellent mature assets which offer a lot of growth potential with dedicated asset management. Espace Rolin is probably the best asset of its kind, with no void, quality tenants and an excellent average duration. This asset will give the new owner an excellent return,' said Amaury de Crombrugghe, chief investment officer of AG Real Estate.

Tristan was advised on the Espace Rolin by Loyens & Loeff, Cushman & Wakefield and PwC. JLL and CBRE advised AG Real Estate.