Aggregate Holdings, through its subsidiary QH GmbH, has sold three further segments of Quartier Heidestrasse project- QH Colonnades, QH Straight and QH Crown 2- in Berlin for €488 million.
QH Colonnades, QH Straight & QH Crown 2 sold at a premium to its externally appraised gross development value as of FY 21, said the company in a press release.
The assets are sold to a consortium led by Imfarr, a family-owned real estate development and investment office.
The three Quartier Heidestrasse segments have a combined gross construction area of 91,668 sqm and lettable area of 52,407 sqm. The properties are already more than 65% completed, with remaining construction works to be completed by Q2 2023.
Aggregate said expected combined rental income is €15m per annum.
According to the company, the successful sale demonstrates the strong underlying value of QH as a prime asset that is located ten minutes walking distance from Berlin’s government district. ”Leasing volumes continue to be strong for Grade A office space in top locations.”
In September, Aggregate leased 23,000 sqm in QH Track to a leading DAX40 group that became the second largest QH tenant behind SAP, which has leased 37,000 sqm also in QH Track. QH Track is the largest building unit in Quartier Heidestrasse and a pure-play office building that spans over 160,000 sqm of gross construction area and 111,000 sqm net lettable area. With a combined pre-let area of 72,000 sqm, QH Track has already achieved a total pre-let ratio of 65% and an expected rental income of c.€45m per annum.
The transaction is structured as a sale of the holding company “4 Ensembles” which consists of QH Colonnades, QH Straight, QH Crown 2 and QH Spring.
The signed QH Spring sale to Vivion Investments S.à.r.l., as announced in September, will transfer and is expected to be closed by January 2023 with the new owner, and is excluded from the reported gross purchase price of €488m. Post the sale, Aggregate will have sold five segments of QH for a combined value of €950m, representing c.1/3rd of the value of the project. Aggregate and the existing project manager will continue to develop and manage the assets until completion.
The net sale proceeds will be used to further repay debt at QH, and the transaction in whole will reduce QH Group gross debt by c.€360m as of HY 2022. Combined with the earlier sale of two QH segments, the two transactions will reduce Aggregate’s loan-to-value ratio (LTV) by c.4 percentage points pro-forma for HY 22.
“The continued interest in Quartier Heidestrasse, in this challenging transaction environment, demonstrates the quality and attractiveness of prime Berlin assets. Our buyer will benefit from rising rental income and appreciating asset values over the coming years. This transaction reiterates our value expectations for the remaining segments and provides strong progress on deleveraging our capital structure to gain the financial strength to take advantage of future opportunities.” commented Cevdet Caner, Chief Executive Officer of Aggregate Holdings.
