Deutsche Bank Acquires Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer HQ in London for $162.1 Million

LONDON, Sept 24, 2003 (Reuters)

In a further sign that investors are returning to the depressed City of London office market, Deutsche Bank Real Estate said it has purchased Northcliffe House in the financial district for 141 million euros ($162.1 million).

Northcliffe House, with 18,000 square metres of office space, was completed in December, 2001 and was bought from British Clerical Medical Investment Group and an affiliate of the U.S. TIAA-CREF investment group. Its long-term tenant is the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Deutsche said it had purchased the building for its grundbesitz-invest open-ended fund, which has 10 billion euros in assets. Deutsche Bank Real Estate is the world's largest property investment manager with total assets of around 48 billion euros.

'The commercial property market in the UK is currently one of the more attractive ones in Europe. DB Real Estate plans further investments in this country,' Kurt Muller, managing director of acquisitions at DB Real Estate said. The City of London office market is in the depths of the worst slump since the recession of the early 1990s, with rents falling over 15 percent in the first half of this year, due to the mass shedding of financial services jobs since 2000. But a number of high profile investors have recently ventured into the market in anticipation of a recovery in rents from 2004/05 as the supply of new office developments dries up and as global economic recovery gathers pace. " Sphere: Related Content