Managers

GIC leads $1.04bn NYC office tower investment

The Singaporean state fund has acquired a majority ownership of the tower, which serves as the US headquarters of Deutsche Bank, via a partnership with Paramount Group.

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Singaporean state fund GIC Private has acquired a 95 percent stake in 60 Wall Street, an office property in Manhattan.

Prior to the acquisition, the New York-headquartered real estate investment trust Paramount Group managed and owned approximately 5 percent of 60 Wall Street through its ownership in certain undisclosed private equity funds. The property company will continue to serve as the manager and maintain its stake via a 95:5 joint venture partnership with GIC, according to an official statement released yesterday evening.

The deal values the 47-storey 1.6 million square foot property at $1.04 billion, or approximately $640 per square foot.

With this majority stake purchase, GIC has also acquired Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing’s (MSREI) 37.7 percent stake in the asset that it owned under a joint venture with Paramount Group, according to an earlier PERE report. MSREI had initially purchased the stake in 2007 via its $5.9 billion Special Situations Fund III, according to an announcement made at the time.

“This investment reflects our long-term confidence in downtown Manhattan which is benefitting from over $30 billion of recent public and private investments in infrastructure and new construction,” commented Adam Gallistel, regional head of Americas for GIC. “We believe 60 Wall Street is one of the top buildings in downtown and is poised to benefit from the ongoing downtown renaissance.”

“We believe GIC’s commitment to 60 Wall Street is reflective of its confidence in Paramount’s management team and the strength of the New York city real estate market,” added Albert Behler, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Paramount.

60 Wall Street, a Class A office tower, serves as Deutsche Bank’s US headquarters. According to data provider Real Capital Analytics (RCA), the German financial services company’s lease is set to expire in about six years.

The site was originally acquired by JPMorgan in 1984 for development purposes for $600 million. Once the tower was fully constructed, it was sold to Deutsche Bank for $611.7 million in 2001, which then went on to do a sale-leaseback to MSREI and Paramount in 2007 for $1.2 billion, as per PERE reports.