Aviva Investors and LaSalle Investment Management have acquired River Garden 2 & 3 in the Prague, Czech Republic on behalf of the Pan-European Fund, Encore+, for €84 million from the developer, HB Reavis.
River Garden 2 & 3 is a class-A office building with ground floor retail and is located in the Karlin district of Prague. This is the first acquisition that Encore+ has made in the Czech Republic.
River Garden 2 & 3, which has recently been awarded a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ certification award, gives Encore+ the opportunity to access high quality office space with a mixed tenant profile of both international and local companies on long leases. It also benefits from the strong and growing Czech economy with the second lowest unemployment rate in the EU.
Karlin is one of the most prominent, active and sought after office locations in Prague, located in an established and popular office and residential location close to the city centre. The property benefits from a number of excellent transportation connections (subway, trams, buses), located within short walking distance.
Encore+ is a diversified, Continental European real estate fund which aims to deliver stable and growing income alongside long-term capital appreciation, from an actively-managed portfolio, in a monthly-dealt, open-ended fund structure. It was recently ranked by MSCI as the top performing fund on a three year rolling basis in the IPD Pan-European Property Funds Balanced Funds Index (PEFPI). The three year return for the Fund is more than 9% (as at 30 September 2016). The Fund has been successfully co-managed by Aviva Investors and LaSalle Investment Management for over 10 years. LaSalle is responsible for all deal sourcing and asset management for the Fund.
Jeffrey King, Fund Manager of Encore+ at Aviva Investors said: “This acquisition is evidence of our success using a disciplined investment approach while following our strategy to invest in quality assets in strong European locations. The Czech Republic is an attractive market thanks to the strong and steady economic growth. The acquisition of River Garden 2 & 3 represents an excellent opportunity to acquire high quality office and retail space in an established submarket, and generate attractive risk adjusted returns for investors.”
Ian Williamson, Portfolio Manager at LaSalle Investment Management, said: “This asset follows the strategy to actively invest in well located Core+ offices across the Encore+ investable universe. This is a modern, high quality office building and the Fund’s first Czech acquisition; this also makes it an excellent fit further diversifying the Fund’s composition.”
Encore+ was advised by White & Case, KPMG, CBRE and JLL’s project management team in relation to the acquisition.
