News from 12/23/2008
Axa IM: Open-ended fund purchases properties for €260mn
Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has acquired properties with a total value of €260mn for its open-ended property fund Axa Immoselect, announcing that the purchases in Luxembourg, Sweden and Spain were already secured by sales contract and that the necessary liquid funding was already reserved. In Luxembourg, the management of the fund acquired the five-story building called “K-Point” in the district of Kirchberg with 9,900 sqm of lettable area via shares in a special purpose vehicle. Axa IM quotes the investment volume at approximately €70mn. In Sweden, a shopping park near Malmö with a total area of approximately 37,000 sqm was purchased; in Spain, AXA IM bought a logistics property with a total usable area of 137,000 sqm. Axa Immoselect is one of the open-end funds which were frozen in the course of the past weeks due to excessive cash outflow brought on by/on the part of the investors.
Schörghuber-Gruppe: Former CFO Naeve takes over concern leadership
Alexandra Schörghuber, the widow of Stefan Schörghuber who passed away at the end of November, is not going to take over the operative management of the property, hotel and brewery group after all. Instead, the new CEO, as of the beginning of the new year, will be Klaus N. Naeve, the firm announced on Monday. He will be managing the group, together with the present CFO Hans-Peter Hoh, in a board made up of four persons. Naeve (58) had worked as CFO in the Schörghuber-Gruppe until 2003, and has since advised the concern as a tax consultant. According to the report, Alexandra Schörghuber herself is going to step down from the board of the enterprise group and manage the foundation council that was established after the death of her husband. In this capacity, she will also continue to determine the guidelines of the enterprise’s policy.
Berlin: Preliminary decision for residential buildings in Tempelhof
A preliminary decision has been taken in the urban planning competition for the development of the Tempelhof Airport which was closed at the end of October. Out of the 80 proposals that were submitted for the residential buildings planned on Columbiadamm, a jury led by Senate Construction Director Regula Lüscher has chosen twelve designs. During the second phase of the competitions, these designs are to be elaborated further, the Senate Department of Urban Development announced. Of these twelve alternatives, one victor is to be chosen in May, 2009. Approximately 1,500 apartments on some 105,800 sqm are planned in the projected residential quarter on Columbiadamm. Up to 200 jobs are also to be created in the new quarter.
Heilbronn: KPE to build hotel for €17mn
The four star hotel planned at Bollwerksturm in Heilbronn can be built. KPE Projektentwicklung GmbH & Co. KG based in Wiesbaden signed a purchasing contract for a municipally owned plot measuring 1,300 sqm on Untere Neckarstrasse. For approximately €17mn a six-story new building with 144 rooms, conference halls and a restaurant is to be developed. Success Hotel Management Group has been taken on as an operator. The groundbreaking ceremony is slated for the autumn of 2009; the opening is to take place in the fall of 2010. The designs were drafted by the architects Werner Schwarz and Michael Straus in Stuttgart.
Bad Urach: Commercial center planned for up to €20mn
Activ Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG seated in Schemmerhofen is planning the construction of a retail and office center in the northern part of the inner city of Bad Urach (Reutlingen County). For €15mn to €20mn, new commercial and residential space is to be developed on an unused plot measuring some 1.5 hectares. At the turn of the year, the grounds are to be transferred into the ownership of Active Immobilien, which belongs to the Dünkel Holding group. Demolition work is to start before the end of 2009.
ZIA: Tanja Wiebe appointed to management of property federation
German Property Federation (ZIA) has appointed Tanja Wiebe (38) as a further manager. As of January 1, 2009, she will be leading the association jointly with Axel von Goldbeck and Roman Petrusek. Since October, 2007, Wiebe has been the Director of ZIA’s Taxes, Law and Europe Department. Moreover, ZIA announces that six enterprises and associations have joined ZIA in the course of the past two months. The association established in the middle of 2006 thus currently comprises a membership of 99 enterprises and associations.