Pbb provides €170m Berlin loan

Germany’s pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) has provided a €170 million loan to finance the acquisition of a Berlin mixed-use complex.

The facility funds the purchase of the Leipziger Platz 14-16 office and retail complex by HGHI Holding GmbH, a joint venture between RFR and DC Values. The loan was closed before the end of 2016, the bank said.

The properties cover 22,500 square metres, of which around 60 percent is offices, 30 percent retail and the remainder apartments. Anchor tenants of the retail space include Uniqlo, Vodafone, and Superdry.

Last June, pbb provided more than €150 million of finance to RFR Group and a partner to fund the redevelopment of a vacant office tower complex, Hochhaus am Park in Frankfurt, into high-end apartments and a luxury hotel.

RFR is owned by investors Michael Fuchs and Aby Rosen and has a portfolio of properties in the US and Germany including New York’s Seagram Building. Hamburg-based DC Values, founded in 2009, specialises in the acquisition and development of retail properties.

“The location of the financed properties at Leipziger Platz – in the close vicinity of Potsdamer Platz – is perfect, with excellent connections to Berlin’s transport network and infrastructure. Pbb and the investors have already cooperated successfully several times in the past – we admire their professionalism and value their long-standing experience in the high-street retail segment,” said Gerhard Meitinger, head of real estate finance Germany at pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.