Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised South Korean asset manager Capstone Asset Management on the resale of the new Zalando headquarters in Berlin by way of a share deal to a Luxembourg real estate fund advised by Hines. The purchase price is about € 233 Million.

Founded in 2009, Capstone is one of the fastest growing companies within their branch in Korea and currently manages assets of around € 1.8 billion.

The new Zalando headquarters is part of the future Zalando Campus, which is being built next to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin-Friedrichshain and is expected to be completed in autumn 2018. The headquarters will comprise two seven-storey buildings with around 29,000 square metres and 13,000 square metres of rental space as well as 156 parking spaces.

For the Korean real estate investment market and for Capstone in particular, the successful resale in combination with the purchase of the Zalando property through a forward asset deal in spring 2017 is a special milestone in the area of foreign investment. Furthermore, the transaction stands out through its complexity as the acquisition structure was resold in a share deal even before the closing of the forward asset deal.

The Clifford Chance team comprised partner Gerold Jaeger, associate Philip Heinzel (both Real Estate, Düsseldorf) as well as partner Olaf Mertgen (Frankfurt) and Counsel Cord von Mandelsloh (Düsseldorf, both Tax). The team at the Clifford Chance Luxembourg office comprised partner Katia Gauzés, senior associates Frédérique Davister and Sascha Nolte, associate Alexandra Dear and trainee lawyer Raphael Theiss (all Corporate).

Clifford Chance has already advised Capstone Asset Management on other of real estate transactions:

    on the purchase of the new Zalando headquarters in form of a € 196 million forward asset deal in spring 2017 and
    on the acquisition of the MIK office complex in Düsseldorf by means of a share deal in winter 2017.

After the purchase and project monitoring during the construction phase, the asset manager L'Etoile Properties also managed the sale for Capstone.