Ashurst advises Warburg-HIH Invest on acquisition of office and retail building Pick-up in Aachen

Ashurst advised Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate (Warburg-HIH Invest) on the acquisition of the office and retail property Pick-up in Aachen from the developer Landmarken within the framework of an asset deal. Warburg-HIH Invest acquires the building as the first object for its new open-ended special AIF 'Deutschland Selektiv Immobilien Invest II'. It was agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The new six-storey building at Krefelder Strasse 218 in Aachen's Quartier Nord has more than 5,000 sqm of office, medical practice and restaurant space, which is fully let on a long-term basis, as well as 73 parking spaces. DGNB certification in gold is being sought for the property, which was completed in April 2020. The Quartier Nord, developed by Landmarken, is conveniently located between Aachen city centre and the A4 motorway. By 2030, on a total of 48,500 sqm here will be built mixed-use properties for offices, retail and gastronomy as well as parking spaces.

The open-ended real estate special fund 'Deutschland Selektiv Immobilien Invest II' set up by Warburg-HIH Invest in 2019 has a planned volume of at least € 400 million and aims to achieve a distribution yield of 4%. Investments are made primarily in core/core-plus office properties in selected German growing cities.

The Ashurst team was led by partner Dr Liane Muschter. She was assisted by senior associate Sven Nickel, associates Raphaela Schmidt, Florian Wörner and Anja Bode as well as paralegals Isabella Strauß and Daniel Weimann (all Real Estate, Frankfurt). Partner Dr Anders Kraft and senior associate Dr Susanne Knoch advised on tax law.

Ashurst's longstanding client Warburg-HIH Invest is one of the leading investment managers for real estate in Germany and Europe and represented at ten locations throughout Europe. Currently, assets with a volume of 11.3 billion euros are being managed across 68 funds.