Warburg-HIH Invest Sells Historic Canal House in Amsterdam to Edmond de Rothschild REIM

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate (Warburg-HIH Invest) just sold the office property located at Herengracht 124-128 in Amsterdam to Edmond de Rothschild REIM for its Benelux Commercial Real Estate Fund.

The building is located in a central part of Amsterdam and was constructed during the 1920s. The property has a lettable area of approximately 4,600 sqm. The property is currently fully let to a coworking company. It was agreed not to disclose the selling price.

Matthias Brodesser, Head of Transaction Management International at Warburg-HIH Invest, said: “We acquired the property for an attractive price in July 2015. At that time, the coworking model was still more or less in its infancy. ‘The coworking tenant was founded in this house. Following sound performance over the past six years, we seized the chance to sell the property in the current market environment.”

“Because of its location directly next to a canal in a generally very desirable part of Amsterdam, and because of the flexible structure of its layout behind the historic façade of the building, it will keep generating strong demand in future, especially among companies in the creative media and communications sectors,” added Reinoud Plantenga, Managing Director of Warburg-HIH Invest BeNeLux.

Robbert Bakhuijsen, Head of Investments at Edmond de Rothschild REIM, commented: “This acquisition represents a strategic expansion of the fund within Amsterdam. The asset perfectly fits within the fund’s strategy to acquire core assets on strong locations which have proven to be resilient. It offers a long term cash flow as well as strong reversion potential at mid to longer term.

Warburg-HIH Invest received legal advice from Houthoff. The due diligence was supported by property manager CBRE. Edmond de Rothschild REIM was advised by Van Doorne, Van Gool Elburg and Drees & Sommer.

The open-ended special fund, Benelux Commercial Real Estate Fund, was launched in December 2016 to invest in office properties in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The fund’s focus is on properties with diversified cash flows located in economically strong cities. The fund currently has a gross asset value of appr. EUR 450 million.