UBS Asset Management has invested in Spanish real estate on behalf of Italian insurer Poste Vita and another unnamed client.

The global real estate division of UBS Asset Management has bought an office building in Barcelona for €52.5m on behalf of UBS Diamond Eurozone Offices, a fund recently set up for Poste Vita.

UBS Asset Management was awarded Poste Vita’s first-ever pan-European real estate manadate earlier this year. The Italian insurer recently decided to invest in real estate for the first time.

The Barcelona asset is located at Aribau 192-198 and comprises 11,219sqm of gross lettable space across nine floors. It is 90% let to law firm Roca Junyent and Quality Medical Service.

UBS Asset Management said it had also acquired an office building in Madrid for €36.5m on behalf of a separate account client, taking its property assets under management in Spain and Portugal to approximately €700m.

The building, Jose Echegaray 6A- Las Rozas, is located in Las Rozas Business Park, 20km north west of Madrid’s city centre and comprises 13,195sqm of lettable space across five floors. It is fully occupied by five tenants, including Avantcard, Altamira Asset Management, Finanmadrid and marketing agency Anekis.

Jesús Silva, head of global real estate – Iberia, said UBS Asset Management had been “selectively and deliberately [building] a portfolio of core and core-plus assets” over the 13 years it has been active in the region.

The company has operated in the two countries since 2003 and today manages seven funds and mandates with assets across the office (65%), logistics (5%) and retail (30%) sectors.

Silva said: “While we remain focused on this strategy in the short term, we are increasingly confident about the economic recovery in Spain and Portugal, and at this stage we have not ruled out broadening our reach along the profile spectrum over the medium term.”

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