Citadel Holdings, the acquisitive UK-quoted property company, has bought two office investments in Paris.
At 41 rue du Capitaine Guynemer at La Defense, Citadel has agreed to acquire the 6,250 m2 Lotus Building, which is let to IBM subsidiary Lotus France on a nine-year lease, until 2006. The price of FFr 77m reflects an initial yield of 9.1%, rising to 9.4%.
And at 48 Croix des Petits Champs, Paris 1e, Citadel has bought a 2,000 m2 building let to Banque de France on a lease that has a further eight years to run. The FFr 58m purchase price reflects a yield of 8.2%. The vendor was UK property company Hammerson.
Jones Lang Wootton France acted for Citadel in both deals.
Citadel has made rapid progress since it was floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in July last year. It owns 13 properties with a total value of more than FFr 655m. Its strategy is to buy well-let buildings in Paris and Lyon on yields of 8% to 9%, financed with French bank loans at interest rates of around 5%.
