Swiss Life Asset Managers has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Terreis to buy a Paris CBD prime office portfolio valued at EUR 1.7 billion.The portfolio consists of 28 core office buildings. Transfer of ownership is expected to take place by Q2 2019.

The assets will be acquired by real estate funds managed by Swiss Life Asset Managers’ entities in Switzerland, France, Germany and Luxembourg and thus providing unique access to the Paris CBD office market to Swiss Life Asset Managers’ clients, both current and potential future investors in said funds.

90 percent of the portfolio consists of prime office buildings located in the Central Business District (CBD) of Paris. Situated in the heart of the French capital, the Haussmann architectural style buildings are mainly located across the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th and the 10th district. Today, these reas are preferred by diversified companies from luxury to new technology industries.

Swiss Life targets to acces its clients to Paris CBD office market

Frédéric Bôl, CEO France of Swiss Life Asset Managers, says: “We are proud to secure this exceptional portfolio in the Paris office segment, which is highly sought after by our clients. The availability of major transactions in Paris is limited and the assets we are seeking to acquire are currently a rarity in the market. We are thus providing to our clients unique access to the Paris CBD office market and enable them to invest in high quality, rarely accessible buildings, in prime locations but with a reversionary rent potential we can capture via our asset management.”

Paris counts as one of Europe’s most sought after real estate markets, with low vacancy rates and rising rents in the office sector. Furthermore, new office developments are rare in the French capital. This applies in particular to the CBD area where supply only increased by 6 percent over the past 40 years. This scarcity of supply further enhances the attractiveness of the Paris market.

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