Deals

Blackstone nabs €135m of Spanish offices from CBRE core fund

The New York giant has used opportunistic capital to purchase almost 1 million square feet of Madrid and Barcelona office space from a core fund of CBRE that is in exit mode.

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Blackstone has purchased a 942,000 square foot core office portfolio in Spain from CBRE Global Investors for its latest European opportunity fund.

Neither side of the deal would reveal the price paid for the four asset portfolio, however it is believed Blackstone paid in the region of €135 million for the properties.

CBRE said in an announcement that it sold the assets from its CBRE European Office Fund, a core strategy vehicle raised in 2005, “in accordance with fund’s exit strategy”. 

The fund was inherited via its acquisition of ING Real Estate Investment Management, the investment management business of Dutch bank ING, in 2012.

Blackstone, on the other hand, acquired the assets for the latest of its European opportunistic real estate funds, Blackstone Real Estate Partners (BREP) Europe IV, which broke the capital raising record for a fund of its type in March when it was closed on €5.11 billion.

The portfolio includes two offices in Madrid, one of which was owned in partnership with another CBRE fund, the CBRE Iberian Value Add Fund, and two in Barcelona.

The Madrid properties are 74.5 percent and 72 percent let, while the Barcelona properties are 100 percent and 70 percent let, allowing Blackstone room to work the occupation of significant parts of three of the fours assets.