Invesco Real Estate and Henley Investment Management have acquired in partnership a prime office building in the heart of Amsterdam. The asset was purchased on behalf of Invesco’s European value-add strategy and funds managed by Henley. The 5,270m² office building located at Rembrandtplein in the historic city centre, was sold by funds managed by Abrdn and the acquisition completed in late December 2022.
The building, marketed as “Vector House”, is currently fully let to the single tenant Booking.com, one of the largest online travel agencies, occupying all of the office space of the seven-storey building. In addition to flexible floorplates of up to 1,000m², which are uniquely large for the historic city centre, the building also boasts a private courtyard garden, several outdoor terraces and ample natural daylight thanks to its prime corner location. Invesco and Henley plan to reposition the building, enhancing its already strong features by upgrading it to meet modern workplace design requirements and enhanced sustainability credentials of the EPC A rated building.
Justin Meissel, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director Europe, Henley, said: “This building represents a perfect fit for our impact-led, value-add investing strategy. Vector House is already a high-quality building in a prime location, within a growing, dynamic gateway city. Compared to post-GFC, Amsterdam is benefitting from favourable supply-demand dynamics, with supply further constrained by limited development of large-scale grade A space in the city centre, and Dutch energy-efficiency requirements. Following our planned refurbishment program, we believe Vector House will be a very attractive offering to the wide array of corporate occupiers desiring to be in Amsterdam’s city centre. We maintain a strong conviction for ‘the right offices in the right locations’, where accessibility and the availability of excellent and varied amenities is a differentiator, as companies look for more out of their office buildings as employees return to the office and they look to attract and retain talent.”
Kevin Grundy, Managing Director, Head of European Value-Add Strategies, Invesco commented: “We are pleased to have completed this acquisition for our value-add program which focuses on fundamental value creation using sustainable investment principles. Working in collaboration to offer solutions to sellers, responding quickly to changes in market conditions, and partnering with best-in-class partners such as Henley are hallmarks of our strategy that can provide an advantage in dynamic market conditions.”
Rutger Hellingwerf – Transactions Manager from Abrdn said: “We have owned Vector House for a number of years and during that time have enjoyed working with Booking.com. With Booking’s new HQ building opening in 2023, this offered an optimum exit point for our fund and having agreed terms with Henley and Invesco, our respective teams worked very collaboratively in executing the transaction in the agreed timescales."
