LaSalle, one of the world's leading real estate investment managers, announces that it has acquired the office complex River Garden I (“RiGa I”) in Prague on behalf of its LaVA mandate for approximately €57m. The seller is the oldest Slovak asset management company, IAD Investments. The sale was made on behalf of its Prvý realitný fond, mutual fund investing throughout Central Europe. This is the first acquisition that LaVA has made in the Czech Republic, and the first sale of a prime office project for IAD Investments from its fund´s portfolio.
RiGa I is a prime office building in one of Prague’s main office districts, Karlin, which finished construction in 2012. RiGa I will benefit from Czech Republic’s strong and growing economy and the prime office location, which is one of the capital’s main office hubs, popular amongst residents and a number of high-standard residential projects currently under development. It also provides the opportunity to acquire a recently developed, fully-leased asset with international tenants.
The total leasable area of RiGa I is 19,200 m². RiGa I is comprised of 16,593 m² grade A modern office space positioned over eight floors, retail and storage space. There are further 184 indoor parking spaces located in three underground floors.
LaVA is a discretionary mandate which has been raised as a co-investment vehicle between LaSalle and the client to invest in value-add real estate across Europe. The total equity commitment is €300m. Its strategy is to acquire properties with strong locational characteristics but require intensive asset management, physical upgrade and/or change of use to reposition them as core real estate assets. The target countries for investment are the UK, France and also countries comprising a Rest of Europe category. All property sectors are considered excluding hotels.
