Union Investment acquires exciting construction project in Erlangen

Union Investment has acquired Module 2 of the Siemens Campus in Erlangen via a club deal. The site is the largest and most modern Siemens location worldwide. The acquisition is being made for an investment fund established to meet the needs of four institutional investors, for special real estate fund UII EuropeanM and institutional real estate fund UniInstitutional German Real Estate. Union Investment is taking a 60 per cent stake in the property company, with Siemens retaining the remaining 40 per cent. The purchase price was not disclosed.

“This club deal enables us to acquire one of the most exciting construction projects in Germany and to establish an investment company in accordance with Article 9 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. Investments like this help us to create crucial long-term stability in our investors’ portfolio, even in the current market conditions,” said Dr Maximilian Brauers, managing director at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH.

“The acquisition of Module 2 is the next step in our successful partnership with the Siemens Group. Siemens’ long history at the Erlangen site plus the fact that the company is planning to build more modules on the campus by 2030 and is remaining invested in Module 2 as a joint venture partner demonstrate Siemens’ long-term commitment to Erlangen,” said Alejandro Obermeyer, head of Investment Management DACH at Union Investment.

Siemens Real Estate has completed a reception building, four additional office buildings and three car parks with around 2,200 parking spaces on the 74,300 sqm plot. The ensemble also includes two historic buildings, which will be adapted to meet modern-day energy standards. Siemens has signed a long-term contract for the entire rental space of 77,600 sq m.

An especially innovative feature is that the central reception building and the four new office buildings were built using the wood hybrid construction method. It is one of the first projects of this size to be built in Germany using the wood hybrid construction method. Compared to conventional concrete building methods, timber hybrid systems reduce CO2 emissions by up to 65 per cent during construction, significantly shorten the shell construction phase and generate far less dust, noise and waste on the building site. In addition, the construction project was digitally planned and managed using building information modeling (BIM).

Union Investment was advised on legal matters by Norton Rose Fulbright and on tax matters by Poellath. Siemens Real Estate was advised by GSK Stockmann.