Tristan Capital Partners, the pan-European real estate investment manager, has launched the sale of the Garden Tower in Frankfurt in what is likely to be a keenly watched exit amid claims sellers’ expectations are not being met for significant office assets in the German finance city.
Tristan said the marketing process had begun for the 27,513 m2, 126 metre tall asset within the last few days and that it had received 'a lot of positive enquiries from around the world', and has already signed a large number of non-disclosure agreements.
The bidding process will begin in mid-April, it added, with CBRE being appointed. The agent has been introducing Asian buyers to it, but a buyer from Europe or another part of the world is not being ruled out. The company declined to confirm a guide price for the multi-tenant asset in Frankfurt’s CBD, which it acquired in December 2015 for €175 mln on behalf of Curzon Capital Partners IV (CCP IV), a core-plus fund.
The asset underwent a major redevelopment between 2003 and 2005 and reopened in 2006 with floor-to-ceiling heights of over 3 metres. It was originally constructed as the headquarters of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) and was one of the first high-rise buildings in Frankfurt’s financial district, the Bankenvierte, according to Tristan’s statement at the time. Tenants include Société Générale which uses several floors as its Germany headquarters.
The timing of the sale is key as several real estate agents have suggested privately that two large office assets in Frankfurt are struggling to sell at their initial guide prices. The two assets are identified as the Trianon Tower owned by NorthStar Realty Europe and Gallileo tower, originally acquired by former IVG subsidiary Triuva, which is now part of Patrizia Immobilien. Both NorthStar Realty and Patrizia declined to comment.
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This article first appeared in EuroProperty, a PropertyEU weekly publication
