KanAm Grund makes first investment in Spain since 2005.

Germany-based KanAm Grund has purchased eight buildings in Barcelona from AXA IM Real Assets, in a deal reportedly worth €100 million according to El Confidencial.

AXA IMRA, the previous landlord, bought a total of 13 assets from the regional government of Catalonia who stayed in as a tenant in a sale & leaseback deal which generated €172 million and contributed to aid the public finances in the midst of the great recession. The regional government, known as the Generalidad de Cataluña, agreed to sign a 20-year lease paying a rent of c. €16.2 million.

The portfolio which has traded includes the Conselleria de Justícia, on Calle Pau Claris; the Citizen Service Office (OAC) of Barcelona’s Territorial Business and Employment Services ​​on Carrera Street; the General Subdirectorate for Initial Employment Authorizations, on Puig i Xoriguer Street and the headquarters of the Institut Català de les Dones (ICD), in Pere Coromines Square; the headquarters of the Institut Obert de Catalunya (IOC), on Avenida Parallel, the Territorial Judicial Archive of Barcelona, ​​on Roger de Flor Street and the headquarters of the General Directorate for Language Policy, on the Portal of Santa Madrona. The portfolio also includes the regional government’s Employment Office in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, ​​on Doctor Joaquim Pou Street.

AXA will continue to own some of the portfolio’s largest single properties, including two buildings on Calle Aragón such, the Conselleria de Enseñanza, on the Via Augusta, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Food and Natural Environment, on the Gran Vía, the headquarters of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat), on Vía Laietana.

KanAm Grund Group, which is domiciled in Frankfurt am Main, was established in October 2000 and specializes in open-ended real estate funds and special funds. The last time the fund invested in Spain was back in 2005 when it bought the headquarters of Enagás in Madrid for €45.5 million from Grupo Metrópolis.