The French SCPI fund, UPÊKA has acquired an office and industrial building in Zoetermeer, near The Hague – its first in the Netherlands.
Koraalrood 48 was acquired in a seven-year sale and leaseback transaction with a net initial yield of 7.8%.
The 2,373 square meter office and industrial building consists of 1,637 square meters of office space and 736 square meters of light industrial space with 50 on-site parking spaces.
Catella Investment Management Benelux (CIMB) acted as an advisor on the transaction between the seller Midland and the French fund.
Midland is an affiliate of audiovisual consultancy company NFGD Zoetermeer BV, which has occupied the property since the late 1990s. UPÊKA is managed by Axipit Real Estate Partners, the real estate fund management company of The Aquila Group.
Ralph Willems, Senior Acquisition Manager at CIMB, says, “The Zoetermeer transaction was executed in a very short timeframe, particularly for a new market entry by an investment fund — from exclusivity at the end of November to a closing just before year-end. We’re already seeing positive synergies emerging from the extension of Catella’s pan-European platform with the integration of The Aquila Group, following the UPÊKA fund’s first investments outside France in Spain and now in the Benelux.
Looking for more office and industrial buildings
“CIMB is actively looking for more commercial real estate investment opportunities in all three Benelux markets for UPÊKA as well as Catella’s French platform. These investments will typically be in offices, retail and/or (semi)industrial/logistic assets at ticket sizes in the EUR 1.5 million to EUR 15 million range and at higher ‘value-add’ yields compared with the typical EUR 20 million-plus transactions we’ve previously completed in the Benelux for Catella’s German institutional funds with their core to core-plus profiles.”
Prime Realty and AKD, tax and legal, and PVM as technical consultants, also advised UPÊKA on the Zoetemeer transaction. Spring Real Estate and KDLP acted for the seller.
