Deka debt fund buys loan for Telekom office portfolio
Germany’s first debt fund under German investment law, the “Deka Realkredit Klassik”, said that it had acquired a senior tranche of a commercial real estate loan with a volume of around €30 million from DekaBank. The tranche is part of the total financing of around €100 million provided by DekaBank as the sole arranger for the purchase of four office buildings in Germany, all four of which are leased to Deutsche Telekom as the principal tenant.
The buildings were completed in 2008 and are located in Munich, Münster, Darmstadt and Bonn. They have a total leasable area of around 123,000m². The office building in Munich was extensively renovated again in 2011.
The loan provides an attractive margin compared to the current market environment and allows the Fund to further diversify its loan holdings in euros. The Fund currently has five German loans in its portfolio.
“Deka Realkredit Klassik” was launched in 2009 as the first debt fund under German investment law. The agreement here is interesting - the investment fund exclusively buys senior debt relating to existing commercial property. Then, in respect of each prior-ranking tranche which “Deka Realkredit Klassik” acquires, DekaBank undertakes to hold a junior tranche equating to a minimum of 50% of the investment fund’s share until repayment of the loan. “Deka Realkredit Klassik” has fund assets amounting to approximately €470 million (as at 31 December 2014). The fund’s management has secured a rating of AA+ or ‘very good’ from independent rating agency Scope.
Separately, Deka Investment said recently it was increasing its commitment to the hotel sector, and underlined this with two new acquisitions – a hotel in Vienna and a project development in Frankfurt.
In Vienna, Deka bought the Hotel Zwei in the Viertel Zwei office and residential complex in Vienna’s 2nd district from the listed S Immo group for €35m. The four star hotel was built in 2008 and has 252 rooms and suites, being run as a Courtyard by Marriott under a franchise agreement.
In Frankfurt, Deka bought the Adina Apartment Hotel in the city’s burgeoning Europaviertel district, between the main station and the trade fair, in a forward deal from developer GBI, for €39m. Again a four-star hotel, it is scheduled for completion in autumn 2016 with 181 apartments and 11,000 sqm. Deka will allocate the property to its Spezialfonds Domus-Deutschland-Fonds, which currently holds six properties.