NORWAY - RREEF is expanding its presence further into the Nordic region through a joint venture purchase of its first Oslo-based office block.
The real estate subsidiary of Deutsche Bank has signed a joint venture with Norwegian-based real estate investment and management company Fazenda to buy the property known as Maries Vei 20, Hovik, located in Greater Oslo.
The 15,000 m2 office building, based in the Western suburb of Oslo with view of the Oslofjord, currently has a single tenant but it is thought the current residents may be moving out next year into a new head office.
As a result, REEFF and Fazenda expect they will have new tenants by mid-2008 and believe this leaves them poised to take advantage of Oslo’s strong demand for office space, according to Bert van den Hoek, director of RREEF.
"We feel this is the right time to enter the Norwegian market because there is a high level of demand versus little supply," said van den Hoek.
"We have a year with secured income and a year to reposition the office. This allows us to take advantage of the favourable occupational market conditions when the office supply is very scarce. Tenants will be looking quite some time in advance and we will be in competition for larger tenants looking for space in 2008," he added.
The Maries Vei 20 deal is RREEF’s first acquisition in Norway but unlikely to be their last, van der Hoek hinted, as the partnership with Fazenda allows them to consider additional core, value-added and opportunistic real estate investments.
"Our joint venture with Fazenda will provide us with a robust platform in Norway which we can leverage to acquire new value-added and opportunistic real estate investments in the near future," said van der Hoek.
RREEF has been attempting to rapidly expand its presence across Europe but, more specifically, has completed several acquisitions in Sweden and Denmark over the past two years.
