Avison Young Secures Second Major Investment in Germany on Behalf of North American Clients
After having recently launched its presence in Germany with the opening of a new office in Frankfurt on December 1, 2014, Toronto-based commercial real estate services firm Avison Young has advised two Canadian pension funds in the acquisition and financing of a second mixed-use property in Germany.
By Adriana Pop, Associate Editor
Cologne, Germany—After having recently launched its presence in Germany with the opening of a new office in Frankfurt on December 1, 2014, Toronto-based commercial real estate services firm Avison Young has advised two Canadian pension funds in the acquisition and financing of a second mixed-use property in Germany.
The seller of the asset, a six-story building located at Weisshausstrasse 20-30 in Cologne’s south-central district Cologne-Sülz, was advised by SVP Global and represented in the transaction by Nexus Capital Advisors GmbH & Co.KG and McDermott Will & Emery.
Avison Young was advised by Linklaters LLP in the transaction and will serve as asset manager and leasing agent for the property. IC Property Management GmbH has been selected to provide property management.
Anchored by Real Hypermarket, the building is currently 96 percent occupied. It is located next to various key Cologne public transit routes and the University of Cologne and comprises a total leasable area of 260,600 square feet, including 142,100 square feet of retail space, 68 apartments and 50,780 square feet of office space.
Terms of the transaction, which closed November 27, 2014, were not disclosed. The acquisition marks the second investment in Germany for the two pension-fund clients within the past eight months, and further expands the mandate for Avison Young outside of North America.
“We are excited to be announcing this second transaction for our client in Germany this year,” Udo Stoeckl, Avison Young principal and managing director of the company’s Frankfurt office, says. “We look forward to continuing to provide our clients with cross-border transaction advice and best-in-class opportunities in a broad range of asset types in Europe.”
According to Avison Young Principal Amy Erixon, who heads up Avison Young’s investment management business, this deal represents another important step in the company’s evolution of its global investment business beyond North America.
“Acquisition of this high-quality, mixed-use property at a discount to replacement cost complements our existing German portfolio by providing retail exposure and critical mass for our apartment holdings. We continue to look for well-located, credit-tenanted properties that can be acquired at better cap rates than are available for comparable properties in Canadian markets,” she adds.
Avison Young’s first acquisition and financing of a German mixed-use property on behalf the two Canadian pension funds occurred in May.