Brookfield makes big Berlin purchase

A significant real estate acquisition in Germany puts the asset manager in the driver’s seat when it comes to owning quality real estate in the city

Brookfield Property Partners LP teamed up with Korea Investment Corp. to make its acquisition of buildings on Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz from Savills Plc, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The people asked not to be identified because the information is private. Brookfield announced on Monday that it closed the purchase of the complex -- which consists of 17 buildings, 10 streets and two squares in central Berlin -- with an undisclosed Asian partner. Savills said on Oct. 13 it had agreed to sell the complex to Brookfield.

Brookfield agreed to pay about 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion), people with knowledge of the deal said last year. Melissa Coley, a spokeswoman for Brookfield in New York, declined to comment on Monday. Representatives at Savills and at KIC’s offices in London and New York didn’t respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Potsdamer Platz, now dominated by luxury hotels and office towers, was a bombed-out wasteland for 50 years after World War II, with the Berlin Wall running through it. After reunification, Daimler AG and Sony Corp. invested more than 1 billion euros to build a complex of futuristic skyscrapers and cinemas around a roofed-in plaza that’s now one of Berlin’s most recognizable landmarks.

The properties acquired in this deal have 267,000 square meters (2.9 million square feet) of rental space, including seven office buildings, five apartment blocks, the Mandala Hotel, a cinema and Potsdamer Platz Arkaden shopping mall, according to Savills.

The Financial Times reported KIC’s involvement in the deal earlier.
 

Dalia Fahmy and Scott Deveau
Bloomberg News

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