Goldman Sachs sells Barcelona’s Torre Llacuna to Principal

Principal Real Estate Europe, the European real estate investment arm of Principal Global Investors, has completed the acquisition of the Torre Llacuna office building in Barcelona from Goldman Sachs. The building was purchased for the Principal European Office Fund (PEOF) and the deal was managed through the Madrid office by Jaime Abad, Senior Transaction Manager, and Iñigo Taboada, Head of Spain. Following this acquisition, Principal Real Estate Europe now manages eight assets in Spain.

Located at 166 Calle Llacuna in the 22@ ‘innovation’ district in Barcelona (close to the iconic Torre Glòries building), the 13-storey multi-let office building is occupied by several tenants including the video game developer Social Point and the hospital operator Quiron Salud.

Commenting on the acquisition, Iñigo Taboada, Head of Spain and Asset Management at Principal Real Estate Europe, said: “We’ve chosen Barcelona for PEOF’s latest acquisition because of the city’s strong fundamentals including a robust occupier market and potential for rental growth over the longer-term. Take-up of space in the 22@ district in particular has increased steadily over the past couple of years, fuelled by a shortage of good quality office space in the city centre.”

Sebastian Lietsch, fund manager at Principal Real Estate Europe, added: “Our first acquisition in Spain for PEOF, Torre Llacuna complements the fund’s existing portfolio of core pan-European office assets located in Amsterdam, Lisbon, Milan, Paris and Rotterdam. We continue to be on the lookout for well-positioned assets to add to the portfolio.”

Cushman & Wakefield, SDH and EY advised Principal Real Estate Europe on the acquisition.