Christos Vittoratos
Silberturm - Frankfurt
The landmark Silberturm ("Silver Tower") building in Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof quarter has been bought by Samsung SRA Asset Management.
The landmark Silberturm ("Silver Tower") building in Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof quarter has been bought by Samsung SRA Asset Management, a division of the Korean Samsung Life Insurance for a price of more than €450m. The seller is a consortium of eight institutional investors led by IVG Institutional Funds.
A report in the trade newspaper Immobilien Zeitung said the sale of the 166m-high tower went ahead last week after the Koreans offered the highest price in a competitive bidding process. The 36-storey, 78,000 sqm asset was built in 1975-1978 and remained the tallest building in Germany until 1990 when it was the headquarters of the Dresdner Bank, which subsequently merged with Commerzbank.
The property was thoroughly refurbished for €110m between 2009 and 2011, when its new (and current) tenant German railway Deutsche Bahn moved in, and which still has a 12-year remaining lease term. The tower was held by eight institutional investors led by IVG Institutional Funds, which bought it for around €400m in 2011 from Commerzbank. Bavarian public pension fund BVK provided €190m debt, but the fund's financing will now to be taken over by Dutch ING Real Estate, which won a competitive bid for it, according to Immobilien Zeitung.
