Canadian broker Avison Young clinches second German deal

Fast-growing Canadian commercial property advisory Avison Young tied up its second deal in Germanyy recently on behalf of two Canadian pension funds. The company has wasted little time in getting active in Germany since opening a new office in Frankfurt to service the market as recently as three weeks ago.

The Toronto-based group has now concluded two deals in Germany on behalf of the two Canadian funds, following on from an earlier acquisition in May of this year. This latest deal involves a mixed-use, six-storey building located in Cologne-Sülz, for which Avison Young will handle the asset management and be the leasing agent. Property manager will be IC Property Management GmbH. The seller of the asset was advised by SVP Global and represented in the transaction by Nexus Capital Advisors GmbH & Co.KG and McDermott Will & Emery.

Anchored by a Real hypermarket, the building is currently 96% occupied. It is located next to various key Cologne public transit routes and the University of Cologne and comprises a total leasable area of 24,200 sqm, including 13,200 sqm of retail space, 68 apartments and 4,700 sqm of office space.

Amy Erixon, a principal at Avison Young, said the deal represented another important step in the company’s expansion outside North America. “Acquisition of this high-quality, mixed-use property at a discount to replacement cost complements our existing German portfolio by providing retail exposure and critical mass for our apartment holdings. We continue to look for well-located, credit-tenanted properties that can be acquired at better cap rates than are available for comparable properties in Canadian markets,” she commented.

The Frankfurt office, headed by Commerz Real veteran Udo Stoeckl, is Avison Young’s first location in continental Europe, and only its third office outside of North America, after opening offices earlier this year in the UK, in London and Thames Valley. Stoeckl has been working for Avison Young since 2011 advising both European and North American capital markets clients on their cross-border activities.