Savills IM acquires Brussels office asset

18 July 2019

The international real estate investment manager Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) has acquired from ALIDES REIM NV a seven-storey office property in a prime location in Brussels, Belgium, for its Savills IM European Commercial Fund (ECF). The property, completed end of 2016, is located in the European District, the largest and most sought-after office market in the city with 3.3 million sqm of office space. The lettable area comprises 5,872 sqm as well as 15 parking spaces, and is fully let to five companies with strong credit ratings. The remaining lease term is approximately eight years. The property achieved a BREEAM "Excellent“ rating.

The property benefits in particular from its excellent location within the CBD and its proximity to public transport. The Arts-Loi and Maelbeek underground stations as well as the Bruxelles-Schuman national railway station are just a short walk away, and provide direct access to local and long-distance trains.

Savills IM was advised by CBRE, Loyens & Loeff and Drees & Sommer. The transaction was part of a share deal. The price was not disclosed.

Gerhard Lehner, Managing Director und Head of Fund Management Germany at Savills Investment Management, says:

"With a population of 1.2 million, Brussels is one of the largest employment regions in Europe, employing around 700,000 people full-time. With a GDP per capita in excess of EUR 63,500, the Brussels region is one of the most affluent regions in the European Union after Inner London, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Hamburg. The property is in a prime location in the established European District and is particularly attractive due to its good rental growth prospects. It also impresses with its high sustainability efficiency and new construction quality.

Following last year's acquisition of the NUBIS office complex in Berlin, the current acquisition in Brussels has enabled us to acquire another highly attractive office investment in a region benefiting from high rental growth in Europe, and raise the fund's office allocation to 40 percent. The fund is still selectively open to new equity commitments. With these, we are planning further office investments, with the focus increasingly on Spain and the Netherlands.”

The Savills IM European Commercial Fund is designed as a Luxembourg FCP-SIF for German institutional investors. Since its launch in 2008, the fund has regularly outperformed various benchmark indices and offers investors further return opportunities. The success of the distribution-oriented fund is based on its broad diversification across the office, retail and logistics sectors as well as its concentration on the economically strong cities and regions of Western Europe. Including the new acquisition, the fund holds a total of 19 properties in eight countries with a market value of over EUR 800 million.