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InfraRed Capital Partners acquires the Cologne Tower

4 April 2019 Investments
InfraRed Capital Partners, in a JV with German real estate company Art-Invest Real Estate has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the Cologne Tower (www.koelnturm.de) in Germany from a German bank.

The transaction encompasses a 43-storey tower built in 2001 (design by Jean Nouvel) comprising 26,500 sqm of office space and the adjacent 220-bedroom 4-star NH Hotel. The buildings are located in the Cologne ‘MediaPark’ within the core of the City. Prominent tenants include The Boston Consulting Group, Mayer Brown and Hays.

Cologne is Germany’s fourth largest city with a large and growing population of over 1m. The diversity of its industries, which include trade, insurance, media, chemicals as well as government, is a key attraction for real estate investment.

Joram Szerkowski, responsible for real estate deal origination in Germany at InfraRed Capital Partners, commented:

“The Cologne Tower offers a rare opportunity to add substantial value through refurbishment and letting to such a high profile, landmark building. We found the occupier dynamics of the Cologne office market quite compelling. Take-up in the first half of 2011 alone was 173,000 sqm and the development pipeline for high quality office space remains constrained. The complex transaction and due diligence process with the vendor, EH Estate, has been highly focused and collaborative.”

BNP Paribas advised InfraRed Capital partners on this acquisition.

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