GEG buys prime properties on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz for €365m

The Frankfurt headquartered GEG German Estate Group is investing €365m to buy two prominent office properties in Berlin from Tishman Speyer.

GEG said it has bought the landmark 24,200-sqm Pressehaus building and the 10,300sqm New Podium building on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Both buildings are already 90% let on a long-term basis, GEG said. The tenants include Wayfair, the US online furniture seller, co-working provider The Office Group, and South African media group Napster.

The historical high-rise Pressehaus building (16 upper floors and a rental space of 24,200 sq m) includes the flat-roofed Pressecafé building (with a rental space of 1,200 sqm), both redesigned and completely revitalised. For the second asset, Tishman Speyer will be responsible for the completion of the New Podium new building between now and 2021.

Ulrich Höller, still chairman of GEG’s management board (he moves soon to the supervisory board), said: “With this investment at Alexanderplatz, one of the Berlin’s top locations with a view to the future, we now have our first presence in the capital – and we intend to seek further opportunities here.”

Established in 2015, GEG is backed by Frankfurt-based TTL Group and US private equity firm KKR, along with listed German company DIC Deutsche Immobilien Chancen. Following the transaction, GEG’s assets under management will be worth about €3.6bn.

Florian Reiff, managing director at Tishman Speyer, said: “Our work on the Pressehaus in Berlin adds to our excellent track record of adding value to landmark properties here in Germany.” Tishman Speyer bought the Pressehaus building from Bertelsmann in September 2016.

“This deal is the latest in a line of value-creating transactions for our investors in Germany and we see no shortage of opportunities to add to these in the coming months and years,” Reiff said.

Separately, Tishman Speyer Investment Management (TSIM) just this week bought the Wohnturm2 residential tower project development in Vienna for German insurance group Versicherungskammer. The seller was Signa Development Selection, a subsidiary of Austria’s Signa Group. So far no financial details are available.

The building comprises 209 residential units with 16,840 sqm of residential, 458 sqm of commercial space and 110 underground parking spaces. Signa will complete the project by the end of 2020.

This is the second deal that TSIM has done with Versicherungskammer in the recent past, following the acquisition of the office building Bürohaus an der Alten Oper in Frankfurt.

Tishman Speyer’s managing director Nils Skornicka said, “We are purposely investing in trophy assets in prime locations and with long-term life cycles and prospects.”