Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH has entered the Canadian market with the acquisition of the office and commercial building Bentall V in Vancouver. The class-A property, which was completed in 2007 and is located in the commercial center of the Canadian metropolis, was acquired for the equivalent of approximately €186 million (approximately CAD 300m). The vendor is the Canadian property company SITQ, a subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, headquartered in Montreal.
The 33-story tower has a total leasable area of approximately 54,000 m² and was acquired for the mutual fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal with an international investment focus. The building is fully let and has a stable rent roll. Only 3% of the leases expire within the next three years. Deka Immobilien was adviced by CB Richard Ellis Limited.
"We have taken the opportunity to further diversify Deka- ImmobilienGlobal's portfolio with the acquisition of Bentall V and are investing in an attractive and sound location with good growth prospects," says Thomas Schmengler, Managing Director of Deka Immobilien GmbH. "The acquisition stabilises the fund's high occupancy rate which currently stands at approximately 98% and increases the proportion of Deka-ImmobilienGlobal's portfolio allocation to America from 12.6% to around 20%."
In addition to its outstanding location, the oval-shaped building with its striking façade benefits from good local and long distance public transport links located in close proximity to the building. The main tenant is Teck Cominco who is active in the mining industry. Other tenants include Fasken Martineau (lawyers), Teekay Shipping (shipping industry) and Bell Canada (telecommunications industry). The technically high equipped building has the Canadian environmental and sustainability certification BOMA Best Level3. A further LEED certification (Leadership in Energy and Enviromental Design) is already initiated. Vancouver is particularly attractive for companies in the service industry, serving the well established technology sector. The city benefits from its proximity to Seattle, Portland and as a link to the Asian markets. The region's economy is expecting to benefit from hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010.
The DekaBank Group is the largest provider of open-ended property funds in Germany. The two investment companies, Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH and WestInvest Gesellschaft für Investmentfonds mbH, together manage fund assets of over €19 billion. As a sister company, Deka Immobilien GmbH is responsible for the acquisition and disposal of properties, management of these assets and all other property services as well as for product development. Together with the Real Estate Lending Unit of DekaBank, the three companies form the Group's Asset Management Property business division.
Source: DekaBank
