DIFA Deutsche Immobilien Fonds AG today successfully completed the sale of a portfolio of German office properties known as the Nautilus properties. The total price of €860.5 million exceeds the expert valuation.
Tishman Speyer Properties is paying some €670 million for a set of ten properties belonging to DIFA-Fonds Nr. 1, while the first group of four properties, owned by DIFA-GRUND, was sold last week to IVG Immobilien AG for approximately €190 million. The office properties that have been disposed of are located in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. They include the Westend Carrée and Aculeum buildings in Frankfurt. Jones Lang LaSalle advised DIFA on the deal.
"This sale in favourable market conditions enables us to optimise our portfolio structures, which were overweight in the office sector - particularly in the Rhein-Main area," says DIFA Management Board member Dr. Frank Billand. "But even after this transaction, Germany remains our most important investment location, with more then 120 properties across all DIFA funds worth a total of around €5 billion."
DIFA's strategy is to gradually expand the portfolio of DIFA-Fonds Nr. 1 by way of carefully targeted investment in Germany and other European countries. The current holdings comprise attractive German commercial properties and high-yield office buildings in Paris, London and Brussels, as well as shopping centers and hotels. With regard to DIFA-GRUND, some €200 million has been invested in new properties and projects so far in 2006, with further acquisitions planned in European and overseas markets that offer good growth potential. DIFA also intends to continue taking advantage of investment opportunities inside Germany. For example, in August the DIFA-Global fund acquired the STEP 6 office block in Stuttgart, while DIFA-GRUND holds a 60% share in the company developing Limbecker Platz in Essen, soon to be Germany's biggest city center shopping mall.
Source: DIFA
