Munich Re Group has confirmed earlier reports that it is in an agreement to acquire the 39-story 330 Madison Avenue high-rise building in New York City.
330 Madison Avenue. Source: Lester Ali via CTBUH
Reinsurance News previously reported that the German reinsurance giant was in talks to buy the Manhattan building from the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund for between $850 million and $900 million.
Now, Munich Re has stated that it is going ahead with the purchase, which represents a major investment into the US real estate market.
However, the purchase price remains unconfirmed at this point in time.
“Acquiring 330 Madison Avenue has added an outstanding property to our real-estate portfolio,” explained Tony Kuczinski, CEO of Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
“The building is a perfect fit for our existing New York City business activities to be based in one common location over time, so that the acquisition not only makes business sense, but is also strategically significant for us.”
The 330 Madison Avenue building is located adjacent to Grand Central Station near the New York Public Library and Bryant Park in the heart of midtown Manhattan.
It features 852,000 sq. ft. of Class A space that is 95% leased to prominent tenants, among them Guggenheim Partners, JLL, and HSBC.
“This investment is attractive for us for a variety of reasons,” added Hans-Joachim Barkmann, managing director of MEAG, who advised Munich Re on the deal.
“We are glad to invest in the United States, given the US share of Munich Re’s insurance portfolio. The overall American real estate market is also currently outperforming continental Europe – and especially midtown Manhattan is really unique in the world in terms of status and prospects,” Barkmann continued.
“Moreover, the fact that we will successfully close a transaction of this scale in such a short time underscores our agility in highly-competitive, global markets.”
The seller in this deal was advised by CBRE, while MEAG had support from EastBanc.
MEAG manages the assets of Munich Re and ERGO. It is active in Europe, Asia and North America and manages an overall investment portfolio valued at €278bn.
