Ashurst advised the EQT Real Estate fund (EQT Real Estate) on the purchase of two office properties in Germany, one being located in Frankfurt am Main, the other in the neighbouring city of Neu-Isenburg.

Following the acquisition of TechnologiePark Köln in September 2016, EQT also instructed Ashurst on its second property transaction in Germany.

On the one hand, EQT Real Estate acquired office building "Atricom" on Lyoner Straße 15 in Frankfurt's district Niederrad. The office building with approximately 45,000 square metres of rental space is inter alia let to investment company Standard Life. In Neu-Isenburg, EQT's real estate team advised the fund to purchase another multi-tenant object, "Le Byro", on Siemensstraße 1-5. Both properties were part of the "Mars" portfolio, a real estate package well-known in the market.

Ashurst's advice covered real estate and finance law as well as antitrust aspects and the tax structuring of the acquisition.

The Ashurst team was led by real estate partner Nicolas Deuerling and finance partner Derk Opitz. Partners Dr Detmar Loff (regulatory), Dr Martin Bünning (tax, all Frankfurt) and Ute Zinsmeister (competition/antitrust, Munich) also advised, assisted by associates Sven Nickel and Felix Bergfort (real estate), associate Annabelle Sachs and transaction manager Anna Jevsejeva (both finance, all Frankfurt) as well as by senior associate Dr Maria Held (competition/antitrust, Munich).

EQT is a leading alternative investments firm with approximately €37 billion in raised capital. Investment advisor EQT Partners formed a real estate initiative in 2015, to identify investment opportunities in the real estate sector. The real estate team consists of 11 investment advisory professionals with vast experience in the European real estate sector.