Icade Takes Daimler Portfolio for $490M

BERLIN-French developer Icade has acquired a portfolio of property assets from DaimlerChrysler for euro 313 million ($490 million). The assets are located in the major German economic capitals, city centers, airport/city center motorways, and high-potential urban development zones.

This transaction has been approved by the Icade board of directors and the DaimlerChrysler supervisory board, and is awaiting approval from the federal German antitrust authorities, which is expected in August 2006.

The portfolio includes 160,610 sm of buildings, with 60,000 sm of vacant space which, according to a company statement, holds “strong commercialization potential in the short- to medium-term”. There is also 130 hectares of land with the potential to be developed into 268,500 sm of offices and 225,000 sm of housing.

Icade will manage the property with the participation of System Invest (Dusseldorf) and through local partnerships in order to commercialize the assets, develop the land and conduct trading.

“Icade will not conduct any speculative operations on this portfolio, but will seek partnerships with German promoters and users so as to ensure secure development. Negotiations are already underway with potential renters for two commercial buildings that will be developed in Berlin and Munich, which offer a return of over 7%,” the company says.

The advisors on this transaction were White & Case for legal issues, Arsene for tax law, and the American Appraisal REAG (Real Estate Advisory Group) for their expertise in this area.