Avignon Capital adds to Berlin "tech-cluster" assets

UK-based investment manager Avignon Capital has made its third acquisition in Berlin and reached its initial target of investing €100m in the German capital.

Avignon Capital said it had bought the so-called Ampere building in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg area, an area very popular with tech startups. The company did not disclose the financial details of the transaction, although the previous owners, Signature Capital, bought the property for about €22m at the end of 2014. Avignon now plants to "rebrand the property, and to make a significant investment in modernization and lease vacant space."

Avignon Capital aims to build a portfolio of campus-style buildings in "tech-clusters" to attract companies from the TMT sector, and now owns about 52,000 sqm of lettable space in Berlin. Companies operating nearby the Ampere building include Twitter, Soundcloud and Uber.

Built in 1926, the listed building is a former electricity transformer station (Umspannwerk). It was converted into offices in 2010 and offers 11,842 sqm of lettable office and event space today. The building’s nine tenants primarily include technology start-ups. The Ampere building is the sister building to the Umspannwerk Kreuzberg, which Avignon Capital acquired in 1Q15, and Avignon plans to unite the two buildings, both designed by Berlin architect Hans Heinrich Müller, under one umbrella.

Clive Nichol, Avignon's director of UK and European investment, said: “Umspannwerk Prenzlauer Berg is our third acquisition in the city and has again demonstrated our ability to close off-market transactions that would be in huge demand if openly marketed. This asset is almost identical to our first acquisition in Berlin in Q1 2015, the Umspannwerk Kreuzberg. We are eager to start collaborating with the tenants and reaping the rewards of owning sister buildings in two of Berlin's most creative locations."

In May, the London-based firm also bought the Berliner Union Film Campus, located between the Tempelhof and Neukölln neighbourhoods, from Becker & Kries, who had owned the site overlooking the famous Tempelhof airport for more than 50 years. The deal also included buying Berliner Union-Film (BUFA), an operational film and media company on the 24,000 sqm campus.

Avignon’s core markets are the UK, Germany, the Nordic countries and Spain. The firm’s clients include private investors, family offices and the listed Cubic Property Fund. Avignon’s assets under management amount to €650m as of 2Q16, with 105 properties in five countries.