Valad Europe fund acquires 7 Dutch office buildings for €56m

Private real estate investment manager Valad Europe and US-based York Capital Management have acquired seven office properties from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce for €56.1 mln.

The assets were purchased in a sale-and-leaseback transaction for the €500 mln Valad Netherlands Diversified Partnership (VNDP).

The multi-let office buildings are located in Amsterdam (De Ruyterkade 5), Rotterdam (Blaak 40), The Hague (Koningskade 30), Arnhem (Kronenburgsingel 525), Woerden (Watermolenlaan 1), Amersfoort (Printerweg 6) and Leeuwarden (Heliconweg 62).

The portfolio comprises a total of 35,850 m2 and 340 parking spaces. The Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel in Dutch) is to lease back a 'substantial amount of square metres' in a number of the buildings.

Mark McLaughlin, managing director of Valad Benelux, said the sale-and-leaseback transactions were a good opportunity to buy seven buildings from the original 10 owned by the Chamber of Commerce. 'The locations work well together as a portfolio, providing geographic diversity, backed by long leases, to an occupier with a strong covenant. This is exactly the type of investments we are targeting for VNDP.'

Valad Europe received legal support during the due diligence process from Van Doorne and Loyens & Loeff, technical support from Tagis and environmental advice from Hofstede.

DTZ Zadelhoff carried out the sales process on behalf of the vendor, with CMS Derks Star Busmann providing legal support.

The fund
Valad Europe launched the VNDP fund earlier this year with the aim of building up a €500 mln portfolio by investing in core-plus/value-add office, industrial, logistics and out-of-town retail properties in the Netherlands. The fund targets single assets and portfolios in attractive locations and in lot sizes of between €10 mln and €100 mln.

The Chamber of Commerce sub-portfolio is the second large acquisition since the launch of the fund earlier this year. In January the fund purchased the €140 mln Uno portfolio from Unibail-Rodamco. The package consists of six assets with a mix of 53,000 m2 of office and 6,000 m2 of retail space.

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