HSH Nordbank AG has provided financing in a total volume of 56.5 million for UBS towards the acquisition and re-development of a portfolio consisting of four office buildings in the Netherlands. Following the acquisition, the intention is to restructure the four properties located in Hoofddorp, Utrecht, Arnhem and Schiphol-Rijk in order to tap into existing value-increase potentials. The project initiator is UBS (Lux) Euro Value Added Real Estate Fund, managed by UBS.
This transaction represents another large portfolio financing HSH Nordbank has handled in the Netherlands. As early as October 2006, the bank had financed the acquisition of six office buildings by UBS with €70 million; moreover, it arranged the financing for the acquisition of 58 Dutch office buildings by Axa Real Estate Investments Managers with more than €200 million in July 2007.
"For UBS, we already financed one portfolio acquisition in the Netherlands, and it proved to be a positive experience. In face of the massive interest that institutional investors are showing in the Dutch office real estate market, we consider the concept for redeveloping and remarketing the four office buildings very auspicious," says Claudio Lagemann, Global Head of Real Estate at HSH Nordbank. "That is why we agreed to handle the financing not just for the acquisition of the properties, but also for the planned revitalisation
measures."
The Netherlands have been one of the core markets for HSH Nordbank, or its predecessor, respectively, since 1999. Since 2003, HSH Nordbank has maintained its own Representative Office in the Netherlands, and has provided more than 1 billion for real estate financings on the Dutch market so far.
The Dutch Real Estate Market Additional Information
The Dutch economy has been undergoing a recovery phase since 2006. HSH Nordbank expects that the excess supply in office space will level out in the short and medium term, and that the demand will remain at least stable but might also increase. Due to the positive mid- and long-term outlook, as well as because of the high-level professionalism and transparency compared to other countries, the Netherlands count among the most interesting markets for institutional real estate investors. Most recently, the massive demand generated by the latter group has led to a marked surge in both transaction volumes and purchase prices on the Dutch office real estate market, especially for core properties. At 5.6 billion, the 2006 transaction volume was nearly triple that of 2005.
