Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has sold the Majunga office tower in Paris’ La Défense business district to a consortium of institutional investors for €850 mln.
The disposal price is higher than the €700-€800 mln range predicted by market experts, as reported by PropertyEU in December last year, and represents a premium to the December 31, 2018, book value, URW said.
The €700-€800 mln sale price estimated earlier would have represented an initial yield in the low 4% range, according to well informed sources consulted by PropertyEU.
Tour Majunga is a 195 metre-high state-of-the-art office building with a GLA of over 67,000 m2 located in the heart of La Défense. Its main tenants are French insurance giant AXA and accountancy firm Deloitte. Built in 2014, it has an Excellent BREEAM In-Use rating.
Following the sale, URW said it aimed to shed a further €2.9 bn of assets in the next few years, out a total €6 bn sales target set in February 2019. The transaction is subject to standard conditions and is expected to close in early July 2019.
Europe's largest REIT has been selling offices partly to raise cash for investing in its regional mall developments while simultaneously keeping a lid on gearing. At end-2018, URW said it had disposed of €3 bn of assets at an average net initial yield of 4.5% and an average premium above book value of 7.2%.
The group completed the disposal of Capital 8 in Paris to Invesco’s flagship Real Estate European Fund for €789 mln last November. In December, it also completed the disposal of the Skylight and Lumen office buildings in Warsaw, first announced in October, to Globalworth Poland for a total €190 mln.
