A consortium of Allianz Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners is acquiring the Warsaw Financial Center (WFC) for about EUR 210 mln. The vendors are Vienna-listed real estate company CA Immo and international investment manager Pramerica Real Estate Investors. They each hold a 50% share in the tower high-rise office building in Warsaw's central business district.
A consortium of Allianz Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners is acquiring the Warsaw Financial Center (WFC) for about EUR 210 mln. The vendors are Vienna-listed real estate company CA Immo and international investment manager Pramerica Real Estate Investors. They each hold a 50% share in the tower high-rise office building in Warsaw's central business district.
A preliminary sales agreement was announced on 9 August and completion is subject to the fulfilment of closing conditions that apply to real estate transactions of this kind in Poland, the vendors said in a statement.
Allianz holds an 87.5% share in the buyers' consortium with Curzon Capital Partners III, a fund managed by London-based Tristan Capital Partners, holding the remainder.
Tristan Capital CEO Ric Lewis said:'WFC is one of the highest quality office assets in Poland, which is the only major economy to have continued to expand throughout the economic crisis, and a market with strong fundamentals that demonstrates consistent investor demand and increasing liquidity. We're confident that in combination with a partner such as Allianz, this asset will produce solid returns for our investors.
'Just a few weeks after the Platinium Business Park, we’ve now carried out another investment in Warsaw,' added Stefan Brendgen, CEO of Allianz Real Estate Germany. 'The Warsaw Financial Center is an extraordinarily attractive investment for the Allianz companies, and in Tristan Capital Partners we have an ideal joint venture partner. We will continue to invest in Poland under our diversification strategy.'
The WFC was one of the first class A high-rise office structures in the CEE region when completed in 1998. It was bought by CA Immo and Pramerica Real Estate Investors as a 50:50 co-investment in 2005. The building is currently almost fully let to tenants that include law firms, consultancy firms and banks.
PropertyEU revealed in March this year that CA Immo and Pramerica were seeking to sell the WFC. Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle were selected to joint market the property, with Salans acting as legal advisor.
Tomasz Trzós³o, head of Capital Markets CEE, Jones Lang LaSalle, said: 'In 2005 we represented WFC's American owners in the sale of the building to its current proprietors. Today, we are glad to be involved in another sales of WFC, one of the prime landmark office buildings in Warsaw. There was considerable investor interest in the deal and the consortium of Allianz Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners presented the most attractive offer in terms of price as well as the possibility of closing the deal swiftly. The preliminary sales agreement, signed yesterday, further confirms a choice of buyer.'
CA Immo CEO Bruno Ettenauer said, 'Our investment strategy calls for 7-10 % of the overall portfolio to be sold every year in order to take maximum advantage of positive market phases and generate profits. Capital released in this way is earmarked for debt reduction and the realisation of current development projects. We are looking forward to the successful sale of the Warsaw Financial Center, which has now been agreed. This transaction will have a significantly positive impact on the annual result for 2012.'
Despite the sale, Poland remains the most important CEE market given its potential. CA Immo Group's property assets in Poland comprise eight high quality office properties situated mainly in the centre of Warsaw, two logistic parks as well as the project development Poleczki Business Park in Warsaw.
Click on the link below for full acces to Premium Content
