The real estate investment management business of French insurer AXA has won a tender to develop a giant office complex in Paris.
AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, which had nearly €40 billion of assets under management at the turn of the year, announced it had been selected as the partner of the Opale-Defense consortium to develop the office, which will be located on a site next to a development intended by the French Ministry of Defence.
AXA did not divulge how much the development would cost but said outlay meant that all of the €377.5 million of capital raised for its AXA Real Estate Development Venture III fund has now been committed.
The ultimate capital raising target for the fund is €600 million and the firm hopes to have raised that by the third quarter of the year.
The Paris office, for which AXA is teaming up with French construction company Bouygues Construction to develop, is expected to comprise more than 900,000 square feet of accommodation when it completes in 2014. Development is due to start next year.
The complex will comprise four office buildings and will be developed either in one phase or two, two-building phases, AXA said.
Jean-Manuel Rossi, global head of development at AXA Real Estate, said: “This prestigious project gives us the opportunity to invest on behalf of our clients in a landmark office asset, which will be the largest current development of its kind in France.”
He added: “We believe that it will attract strong occupier interest given the high profile nature of the building, its excellent location and its sustainability credentials.”
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