Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), has completed the $227 million purchase of Paris office building, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The pension fund is make nearly $800 million worth of investments in Paris over the next three years.
More from the Wall Street Journal:
Oxford, the real-estate arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies, told The Wall Street Journal it purchased 92 Avenue de France from a joint venture between German companies GLL Real Estate and Union Investment Real Estate GmbH.
Oxford made its first Paris acquisition in September. With its second deal the group is almost halfway to its €1 billion, three-year target for the city.
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Over the last year, “London has become more expensive than Paris,” said Michel Vauclair, an executive at Oxford. He also noted that rates for long-term debt in euros are more favorable than in sterling.
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With London’s property market booming, it has been challenging to acquire high-quality assets preferred by pension funds, Mr. Brundage said. “Not impossible, but challenging,” he said, noting as demand pushes up prices, “it’s harder to meet total return expectations” in the U.K. capital.
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92 Avenue de France is a 235,000 square foot office located just over a mile from the Gare de Lyon train station. It is entirely leased to Réseau Ferré de France, the state-controlled manager of France’s railways.
OMERS managed $65.1 billion in assets as of December 31, 2013.
Photo by Taylor Miles via Flickr CC License