Frankfurt's FBC Tower sold to Berlin group PBM

The imminent sale of the Frankfurter Büro Centre (FBC) skyscraper, in the middle of Frankfurt's central business district, had long been flagged but several bidders were known to have still actively been involved in the auction process pretty much all the way. The seller of the 142m tall tower with 52,000 sqm of lettable space is a Whitehall Fund from the Goldman Sachs stable.

The successful bidder in the end was the Berlin-based construction company PBM Germany, who was thought to have paid more than €100m. Information is sparse on the company's website, but it describes itself as " one of the leading companies in the field of entrepreneurship, construction and development in Europe, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Eastern Europe, engaging in the entire spectrum of engineering works". The company was established in 1989.

Market observers in Frankfurt estimated the price at about €2,000 per sqm. The building has a long history in Frankfurt, and does loook in need of a major overhaul. Law firm Clifford Chance is the main tenant with about 20,000 sqm and a lease that runs until 2019, but much of the rest of the building is thought to be empty – so a major repositioning is inevitably on the cards.

The Goldman Sachs Whitehall Fund bought the property in 2007 from the then Degi open-ended Grundwert fund as part of a portfolio acquisition (the "Spring Portfolio"), which put a valuation then on the FBC tower of €327m.