KanAm Grund Group purchases the King Square site in the heart of Copenhagen

• Corner plot with a portfolio of 14 office buildings and a parking garage in the center of the city
• Further comprehensive refurbishment planned to offer a range of office, retail, hotel and living space in the Danish capital

The KanAm Grund Group purchased the King Square site in the heart of the Danish capital of Copenhagen for the German pension fund Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe. This is a unique portfolio with approximately 49,000 square meters of lettable space in direct proximity to the central King’s New Square (Kongens Nytorv). The plot includes a portfolio of 15 buildings built between 1796 to 1971, 14 of which are office buildings and one is a parking garage. The sole tenant is Danske Bank, which uses buildings as headquarters. The plan over the next few years, once Danske Bank has moved out, is to refurbish and redevelop the buildings, some of which have historical character, and to develop the site into a mix of office, retail, hotel and private living space in its unique location. The property was sold by Aberdeen Standard Investments. The seller was advised by their local asset manager Capital Investment and CBRE during the transaction. The buyers were advised by Colliers Accura, KPMG, McDermott Will & Emery, Cowi and Howden Group. It has been agreed to keep the sales price confidential. 
 
The Danish Capital is one of Northern Europe’s most important metropolises. It is regarded as one of the cities offering the best quality of life worldwide. In the Quality of Living City Ranking by consultancy firm Mercer, Copenhagen was ranked eighth out of 231 major cities worldwide. The metropolitan area of Copenhagen is home to over two million people. Copenhagen is both the economic heart of Denmark and a magnet for tourists.

The property was purchased on behalf of a real estate fund, whose investor is the German pension fund for doctors Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe (ÄVWL). ÄVWL is an organization of the Westfalen-Lippe medical association and one of the largest professional pension funds in Germany. With 14.9 billion euros worth of assets under management, including real estate investments amounting to around 3.3 billion euros (equity at current market value), the ÄVWL is responsible for the pension provisions of around 60,000 members and pensioners.

Frankfurt-based KanAm Grund Group, with its investment and asset management company KanAm Grund Real Estate Asset Management GmbH & Co. KG, purchased the portfolio for the pension fund and will also take on the asset management. The portfolio conversion will be carried out alongside Thylander Gruppen as development manager. KanAm Grund Group and Thylander Gruppen have already been cooperating closely during the acquisition process. 2019 was a successful year for the KanAm Grund Group across all three business areas. KanAm Grund Group achieved this with a transaction volume of 50 individual transactions totaling over 2.2 billion euros. These were dominated by purchases within the institutional fund business making up around 870 million euros, followed by the separate accounts business with a purchase volume of around 490 million euros, including the purchase of a property in the Scottish capital Edinburgh for Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe and the purchase of the “Ludwig” building in Munich for Pacific Eagle.