Hines, advised Hana Financial Investment on the acquisition of the office building Helix in Frankfurt-Eschborn from a subsidiary of Commerzbank for an undisclosed sum, as part of a sale-and-lease-back-transaction. Acting as Investment Manager in the transaction and, together with United Partners (Korea), Hines will provide the long-term asset management for the property.
Helix—also known as Vitreum—has a total of 36,200m² of rentable office space, which will continue to be leased long-term by Commerzbank. Located in the Helfmann Park, the transparent and bright building features an arrow-shaped glass exterior. The name Helix is derived from the Helix structure of the superposed floors with large roof terraces. It was built in 2004 according to a design by the architecture firm Schneider + Schumacher.
“The Helix offers the best prerequisites for a sustainable real estate investment and thus corresponds to our investment philosophy overseas. We look forward to further managing the building and develop our relationship with Hines,” says Desmond D.Y. Jeong, Head of Global Investment Finance Department, Hana Financial Investment.
Daniel Reichwein, Hines managing director, said: “We are very happy to have advised Hana on this transaction, Hines’ first collaboration with Hana in Germany. Helix offers exceptionally high-quality office space in an established and, in future, infrastructurally even better-connected submarket. In addition, the full letting to Commerzbank provides long-term security for the investor."
In the acquisition, the buyer was advised by Goodwin Procter, PWC, Arendt and REC Partners. Clifford Chance and Drees & Sommer provided advice to the sellers. The transaction process was also accompanied by CBRE on the seller side. Long-term financing of the acquisition was provided by Munchner Hypothekenbank.
