Clifford Chance advised the Carlyle Group, a U.S. private equity investor, on its acquisition of the Karstadt department store at Bahnhofstrasse 14, Esslingen/Germany on behalf of its CEREP III fund. The property was sold by the Highstreet consortium and the Stuttgart-based Nanz Group. The transaction was conducted as a joint venture between Frankfurt-based Projektentwicklung Baumanagement Gesellschaft mbH (PBG) and 3W Immobilien.

Karstadt, a long term tenant of the property comprising some 10,000 sqm of retail space spread over five floors, has 13 years remaining on its lease. The new owners intend to conduct a refurbishment of the existing building, expand the existing retail space by 11,000 sqm, and build an underground car park and new apartments.

The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with offices in 32 countries and approximately USD 157 billion in assets under management across 101 funds (as at 30 September 2012). Carlyle operates four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Fund Solutions.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Cornelia Thaler and included senior associates Amrei Fuder (both Real Estate, Frankfurt) and Barbara Rybka (Real Estate, Munich) and partner Dr. Uwe Schimmelschmidt and counsel Anette Hofmann (both Tax, Frankfurt).

http://www.cliffordchance.com/news/news/2013/02/clifford_chance_advises…