Deutsche Immobilien holdings, the real estate arm of Zech Group, has bought the embattled giant’s private funds arm, IVG Private Funds Management GmbH.
Deutsche signed off on the deal last week and it is expected to complete as early as next Monday, with IVG private funds staff likely to be informed of the details later this week.
IVG’s private funds platform has more than 60,000 investors and manages several trophy assets, including Frankfurt’s Squaire and London's 30 St Mary Axe, known as the Gherkin.
EuroSelect 14, the fund which owns the half share in the Gherkin alongside private bank Evans Randall, which owns the other 50%, has more than 9,000 private investors on its own.
It is not yet clear what the deal will mean for the 41-storey tower, which has been the subject of a complex debt restructuring.
IVG and Evans Randall bought the building in 2006 for £630m, using a £396m loan from a five-bank consortium.
CBRE has been advising on the restructuring, with fresh equity required to make up for the fact that IVG’s unhedged share of the loan has risen thanks to the change in the value of the Swiss franc, the currency in which principal tenant Swiss RE pays its rent.
The latest annual valuation report puts the total debt secured against the building at £509m and the building’s value at £530m, putting the LTV at 96% against a 67% covenant on the loan.
However, the building’s value is thought to have jumped in recent months thanks to a major re-gear with tenant Kirkland Ellis and the improving market conditions.
The other high-profile London asset managed by IVG private funds is 60 London Wall, EC2, which is owned by the investors in EuroSelect 12.
Riverside House, SE1, which was managed by EuroSelect 09, was sold to M&G last year.
The last published AUM for the private funds business of €3.4bn is from 31 March 2013.
IVG is currently in insolvency proceedings in Germany and the group has sold off a string of high-profile assets in the past 18 months.
Broadly speaking, the private funds business has been one of the better performing units for the IVG group as a whole.
IVG Immobilien AG chief executive Wolfgang Schäfers announced his resignation from the company on Monday.
The move follows the Bonn district court’s decision to approve the company’s insolvency plan on 24 February, which the group’s creditors will now be offered a vote on.
The plan includes a debt-for-equity swap and a group restructuring.
IVG’s €3.2bn debt restructuring will see the creditors of a €1.4bn syndicated loan and a €100m loan take control of 80% of the company, while the holders of a €400m convertible bond will take the remaining 20%.
The listed company will then be taken private.
Among IVG’s key creditors is a consortium of opportunistic private equity investors which bought into the debt last year.
These include Aurelieus Capital Management, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Cerberus Capital Management, Vade Partners and Marathon Asset Management.
Rothschild advised IVG on the sale of the private funds business.
Source: egi.co.uk
Publisher: egi.co.uk
