Valad Europe has acquired two office buildings in Marseille for €25 mln on behalf of its Valad European Diversified Fund.
Valad Europe has acquired two office buildings in Marseille for €25 mln on behalf of its Valad European Diversified Fund.
Constructed in 1994 and collectively known as 'Thyrapolis', the asset comprises 10,600 m2 of office space divided between two buildings: the 8,300 m2 Thyrapolis; and the 2,300 m2 Sainte-Barbe.
Both buildings have been refurbished, Thyrapolis in 2011 and Sainte-Barbe in 2014. In addition to the five storeys of office space, the asset also includes 165 underground car parking spaces across two levels. The buildings are leased to two French public institutions.
Thyrapolis is located in the central business district of Marseille, close to the Euromed commercial zone and the Saint-Charles TGV station, which has a three hour connection to Paris, as well as the A7 motorway. The Saint-Charles district is currently undergoing significant regeneration.
'We believe Thyrapolis has strong value-add potential and its high quality covenant and secured tenants make it an excellent investment,' said Karl Delattre, Valad Europe’s head of France.
Thierry Leleu, Valad Europe’s head of Funds Management, added: 'Since expanding VEDF’s geographic remit to include France nine months ago, we have made good progress executing our investment strategy, investing almost €90 mln so far in six assets. We are currently in due diligence on a number of new potential acquisitions as we look to deploy circa €250 mln of capital we have available to invest in France.'
The Valad European Diversified Fund is a €1 bn fund which employs leverage between 50 - 65%. The fund invests in Core Plus / Value Add assets in the UK, Germany and France with individual lot sizes between €5 - €50 mln, across the office, retail and industrial distribution warehouse/smaller logistics sectors.
Valad Europe manages €5.3 bn of real estate assets and investment capacity across its 24 funds and mandates in Europe.