One of Germany’s largest institutional investors has backed the acquisition of an office building in Japan at a time when German investors have put US and Asian property in demand, according to an investment manager.
The deal is “in the triple-digit million euro” range and buys an Osaka building for an institutional special real estate fund on behalf of Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), a public sector pension fund.
Universal-Investment and CBRE Global Investors transacted the deal.
Alexander Tannenbaum, Universal-Investment’s head of real estate division, says: “German institutional investors are expanding and internationalising their real estate allocations, next to their traditional German investments. Alongside US real estate assets, Asian properties are particularly sought-after right now.”
He says about 12% of the roughly €3 billion in real estate assets administered through Universal-Investment’s platform are invested in Asian properties.
Marius Schöner, country manager for Germany, CBRE Global Investors, says the acquisition is the fifth investment CBRE Global Investors has made for BVK globally, and the first in Asia, since the fund selected CBRE as an investment manager.
Built in 1994, the office building has a gross floor area of about 30,000 square metres and has a high-quality tenant base. The 21-storey property was sold by Seiko Epson Corporation.
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