Real I.S., part of German savings banks group Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, has acquired the Avenida Diagonal 67 office building in Barcelona for its open-end real estate fund BGV VIII Europa from a local family office.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
The firm’s BGV VIII Europa fund’s portfolio is composed of core and core-plus office and retail properties, supplemented by mixed-use, logistics and retail assets, according to the Real I.S. website. The fund targets assets in Europe, with a particular focus on Germany and France, followed by Benelux, Spain, and Ireland. It has a planned investment volume of €1 billion ($1.1 billion).
The eight-story building features has more than 5,400 square meters (58,125 square feet) of office space and is fully leased to anchor companies from the marketing and technology sectors. The space also contains three below-ground floors of parking spaces.
“The office property market in Barcelona is generally developing very well,” said Axel Schulz, global head of investment management at Real I.S. “Prime rents have risen sharply in the last five years and display further upside potential. The acquisition will enable us to increase our exposure in Spain and develop the possibilities of participating in a diversified portfolio within Europe, as planned.”
Erected in 2009, the property is situated in 22@, a new business district and innovation and technology location in Barcelona. According to Juan Jiménez-Hevia, head of country Spain of Real I.S., Barcelona is one of Europe’s leading startup hubs and saw a 30 percent increase of new startups in 2018 alone. “Established companies such as eBay, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and SAP create synergy effects for startups most especially in 22@,” he said.
