US firm WP Carey Group has said its non-traded REIT subsidiary CPA (R):16 Global has completed a EUR 23 mln sale-and-leaseback deal with German carmaker Voit. COPA has acquired Voit's headquarters in St. Ingbert, Germany, and is leasing it back to the German firm on a long-term basis.

US firm WP Carey Group has said its non-traded REIT subsidiary CPA (R):16 Global has completed a EUR 23 mln sale-and-leaseback deal with German carmaker Voit. COPA has acquired Voit's headquarters in St. Ingbert, Germany, and is leasing it back to the German firm on a long-term basis.

Voit was established in 1947 by the Voit family in St. Ingbert. The company manufactures sheet metal parts and ready-to-install machined aluminium die-cast components for cars. Producing nearly 200 million parts annually, Voit also provides customers like Bosch, ZF, Behr and Siemens with initial design and tool making, manufacturing, final assembly and logistics.

'Voit is exactly the type of German mittelstand company we like to work with,' said Edward V. LaPuma, President of WP Carey International. 'It represents a new generation of European companies that are beginning to use creative financing structures, such as the sale-leaseback, to focus on and enhance their core competencies. Working with these types of companies, we have enabled them to monetize their real estate assets to fund expansion and ongoing operations while allowing them to maintain a consistent level of operating control and management over their facilities.'

Founded in 1973, WP Carey a global provider of long-term net lease financing for companies worldwide. With over $9.6 bn in assets and $5 bn in equity capital, the group owns more than 850 commercial and industrial properties in 14 countries, representing about 9.2 million m2.