Hines and Universal-Investment Acquire Two Prime High-Street Retail Assets in Spain for BVK

(MADRID, SPAIN) – Hines, the international real estate firm, and German investment company Universal-Investment, have successfully completed the acquisition of two prime high street retail assets with associated office space in Madrid and Barcelona on behalf of the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) €1.3 billion separate account.

These purchases represent the eighth and ninth acquisitions for the BVK mandate. In Madrid, the property located on Calle Preciados / Maestro Victoria has been purchased from Spanish Groupo Baraka for €100 million. The Barcelona acquisition on Paseo de Gracia was bought from a private vehicle managed by Banco Popular for €90 million.

These transactions reinforce Hines’ already strong presence in Europe where it has €10.8 billion assets under management (AUM) in most major countries and cities across the continent.

The Preciados transaction comprises two adjacent buildings, Preciados 13 and Maestro Victoria 5. Calle Preciados is the busiest pedestrian street in Madrid, and with a combined area of almost 5,000 square meters, Hines expects to create a prime flagship retail location on one of Spain’s busiest shopping streets.

The asset located in Paseo de Gracia 17 is currently Banco Popular’s headquarters in Barcelona. Hines will redevelop the property to deliver a refurbished building offering over 3,000 square meters of prime retail space and 5,000 square meters of Class A office space, making it a unique asset for both retailers and companies alike.

BVK is Germany’s largest pension scheme group with approximately €69 billion assets under management. Hines has now completed nine transactions allocating over €900 million of the €1.3 billion investment mandate which is targeting prime high street retail assets across Europe.

Peter Epping, managing director – Investment Management for Hines Europe and fund manager for the BVK account, said: “Both assets represent great investment opportunities for BVK in two of the best streets in each city. We are excited by the opportunity to deliver value-add creation through the redevelopment of both assets.”

Lars Huber, CEO of Hines Europe, added, “Since being awarded the BVK mandate in Q4 2015, Hines has successfully acquired a number of high quality retail assets in prime locations on high streets across European territories including France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Denmark. We are excited to add these two prime assets in Spain’s most important cities.”

Alexander Tannenbaum, managing director of Universal-Investment, adds, “The purchase of Preciados and Paseo de Gracia represents a great opportunity to further diversify BVK’s portfolio, as well as investing in a country that is potentially expected to grow at a high pace during the next years.”

Aguirre Newman advised Hines on the acquisition of Preciados, whereas CBRE were the advisors in Paseo de Gracia’s acquisition.

About Hines

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 189 cities in 20 countries. Hines has approximately $96.5 billion of assets under management, including $48.5 billion for which Hines provides fiduciary investment management services, and $48 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 114 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,205 properties, totaling over 390 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 533 properties, representing over 213 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.

About Bayerische Versorgungskammer

Bayerische Versorgungskammer is the competence and service center for occupational and communal pension schemes and Germany´s largest pension scheme group under public law. As a public authority of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, it is the joint executive body of twelve liberal professions´ and communal pension schemes. Bayerische Versorgungskammer covers about 2.2 million insured persons in total, with contributions of € 4.4 billion and € 3.2 billion pension payments annually. It currently has € 69.2 billion assets under management and 1,240 employees. Visit www.versorgungskammer.de for more information.

About Universal-Investment

Universal-Investment is the largest independent investment company in German-spoken Europe with fund assets in excess of about €300 billion under administration, over 1,000 funds and investment mandates and a workforce of around 650. The focus lies on the efficient and transparent administration of funds, securities, real estate and alternative asset classes. The company is headquartered in Frankfurt/Main and has subsidiaries and holdings in Luxemburg and Austria. As pioneer of the investment industry Universal-Investment is now market leader in the areas of master-KVG and private label funds. Owing to the strong growth since starting the real estate business in 2011, Universal-Investment established itself among the Top 3 companies for institutional open-ended real estate funds in Germany. Members of the management board are Frank Eggloff, Oliver Harth (deputy spokesman), Markus Neubauer, Stefan Rockel, Alexander Tannenbaum and Bernd Vorbeck (spokesman of the management board). (As per 28 February 2017) Visit www.universal-investment.com for more information.