RREEF snaps up Sydney office for A$185m

RREEF Real Estate, the real estate investment management business of Deutsche Bank Asset Management, has purchased a large office building in Sydney in a deal valued at A$185 million (€143 million; $188 million). The platform, itself the subject of a sale process being conducted by its parent company, announced that it had agreed to the purchase of 20 Bridge Street on behalf of an unnamed Asian institutional client.

The property is a prime office building comprising approximately 215,280 square feet of offices and 8,073 square feet of retail space across 14 floors. It is predominantly let to the Australian Securities Exchange but also houses HSBC Australia, non-government standards organisation Standards Australia and recruitment firm Hamilton James & Bruce.

The deal follows RREEF’s purchase of 140 Sussex House, also in Sydney, in November. The A$84 million purchase of the 129,168-square-foot office let to Dutch bank ING Bank was completed on behalf of an unnamed European institutional client.

Paul Keogh, chief investment officer at RREEF for the Asia-Pacific region, said the acquisition of 20 Bridge Street offered another example of how RREEF uses a “top-down” approach to identify investments and “experienced local professionals” to execute on its transactions. “We continue to demonstrate our ability to provide investment solutions to our cross-border clients, and this will remain a key commitment for RREEF Real Estate,” he said.

In 2010, RREEF raised more than $3 billion from Asian clients and transacted on more than $1 billion worth of deals in the region. This year, the firm has raised almost $1 billion from Asian clients and completed more than $700 million worth of transactions.

Meanwhile, it was reported earlier this month that parent company Deutsche Bank had launched the sale of a large part of its Global Asset Management business, which could include the disposition of RREEF. The Financial Times cited unnamed sources, which said Deutsche Bank had instigated the sale following a strategic review in November and was aiming to recoup between €2 billion and €3 billion for the platform, which has approximately €516 million in assets under management.