Swisscom has sold a second major tranche of property for SFr1.28bn just two weeks after completing the Switzerland’s largest property transaction.
It has sold 162 buildings to PSP Real Estate, part of Swiss company PSP Swiss Property Group, and WTF Holdings, a newly-formed company owned 80% by Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners and 20% by PSP Swiss Property Ltd.
The deal just falls shy of the record Swiss deal in March when the Credit Suisse Asset Management-led (CSAM) consortium paid SFr1.3bn for a 28-property portfolio.
The portfolio will be split into two among the buying parties. PSP Real Estate, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of PSP Swiss Property, will buy a portfolio of 22 properties for around SFr400m. The portfolio comprises 22 retail and office property, some of which are used for technical purposes. This part of the portfolio comprises 177,000m2 and, by value 75% of the properties are in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva. PSP Management, also part of PSP Swiss Property will manage the assets.
WTF Holdings will buy the remaining 140 properties totalling 762,000m2. The assets are mainly offices and are located throughout Switzerland.
Following this acquisition, PSP Swiss Property Group’s holdings will exceed SFr2bn and it will also have SFr10.5bn under management.
JP Morgan, which advised Swisscom, decided to split the deal into two tranches as the quality of the properties varied across the portfolio. The tranche sold to the CSAM consortium, which included CS Interswiss and Credit Suisse Group (Switzerland) pension fund, was higher quality investment with long term leases. The second portfolio requires more active management as it comprises a spread of offices, retail as well as some logistics and technical facilities.
