Clifford Chance advised Commerzbank AG on the sale of the former Commerzbank tower in Frankfurt to a company of GEG German Estate Group AG. The transaction is subject to antitrust clearance.

The real property was built in 1974 and is located at Neue Mainzer Straße 32-36, it has approximately 30,000 sqm lettable space. Until 1997, Commerzbank used the building as their headquarters. Since 2004, the majority of the space in the building has been sublet and no longer used by Commerzbank itself. GEG will renovate the building and position the property as "Global Tower" with multi-tenant use in line with the plans prepared by Meyer Schmitz-Morkramer architects. The entire investment volume earmarked for the project by GEG amounts to EUR 220 million.

Clifford Chance had advised Commerzbank AG also on the Sale-and-Lease-back of its current headquarters which was closed only a few weeks ago. The two buildings are located next to each other and still linked in terms of building operation and management. Their sale constitutes the largest real estate transaction in Frankfurt and one of the biggest transactions on the European real estate market this year.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Dr. Christian Keilich and included counsel Dennis Blechinger (both Real Estate, Frankfurt), partner Thorsten Sauerhering and senior associate Dr. Dominik Engl (both Tax, Frankfurt), partner Marc Besen (Brussels/Düsseldorf) and senior associate Dr. Dimitri Slobodenjuk (Düsseldorf, both Corporate/Antitrust) as well as senior associate Carmen Büker (Corporate, Frankfurt), associate Agnieszka Pikul (Munich) and transaction lawyer Magda Pawela-Häusler (Frankfurt, both Real Estate).