AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has signed an agreement to acquire, as part of a core strategy on behalf of a client, the entire issued share capital of NorthStar Realty Europe Corp., a NYSE listed real estate investment trust, which owns a portfolio of 12 office properties and two hotel assets with a combined value at €1.1 billion located in key European cities within Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
The Acquisition is subject to approval by majority of NorthStar Realty Europe shareholders. Completion of the acquisition is expected in the fourth quarter of this year.
Through a single transaction, the acquisition provides AXA IM – Real Assets with immediate access to a significant 122,000 sqm (1.3 million sq ft) portfolio of modern, prime, well located office space across Europe’s three core markets. The office portfolio is 96% let, with an average lease expiry of 5.9 years and offers potential for both asset management and further income generation.
The 68,000 sqm German portfolio comprises six office assets including three in the city centre of Hamburg, with the remaining three in Cologne, Münster and Berlin. The two hotels are also in Berlin and comprise 334 rooms across 12,000 sqm in total. There are a further two assets totalling 22,000 sqm in the City and West End of London and four offices totalling 32,000 sqm across a range of locations in central Paris.
SEE ALSO : AXA IM-Real Assets buys Australian hotel portfolio
”The acquisition of NorthStar Realty Europe is a rare opportunity to secure a significant portfolio of prime modern European offices in a single transaction.”
“This proposed public-to-private transaction demonstrates our ability to tackle complex deals to unlock opportunities for our clients. The acquisition of NRE is a rare opportunity to secure a significant portfolio of prime modern European offices in a single transaction. The properties, which are located in the major cities of Europe’s largest economies of France, the U.K. and Germany, have high occupancy and produce strong levels of income that are ideally suited to our clients. As well as highlighting our ability to undertake complex deals of scale globally, this transaction also demonstrates our highly flexible 360 degree approach to investing in real estate via debt or equity and through a range of private or public entry points, including corporate acquisitions,” said John O’Driscoll, European Head of Transactions at AXA IM – Real Assets.
