Ashurst advises AEW on acquisition of Siebenburgen office ensemble

Ashurst advised AEW Invest (AEW) on the acquisition of the office complex "Siebenburgen" in Cologne from Commerz Real AG. AEW acquired the property on behalf of a pension fund. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The office ensemble located in Cologne city centre at Vor den Siebenburgen 2 and Paulstrasse 3-7 comprises 9,600 sqm of office space, 91 per cent of which are leased. The anchor tenant is the Max Planck Institute. Erected in 1995 and 1997, the property formed part of Commerz Real's open-ended real estate fund "Hausinvest". Commerz Real had acquired the asset in 2019 as part of the "Millennium Portfolio" from the former Generali Lebensversicherung.

The Ashurst team was led by partner Dr Liane Muschter. She was assisted by counsel Matthias Fischer as well as associates Raphaela Schmidt, Sina Ghiassi and Carolin Siebeck (all Real Estate). Advice on tax law was provided by partner Dr Anders Kraft, senior associate Dr Susanne Knoch as well as associates Steffen Bellmann and Andreas Hofmann.

AEW is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world and manages with over 770 employees in 17 offices approx. €77.4bn in assets across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.