DIC Deutsche Immobilien Chancen - Investor und Projektentwicklung auf dem deutschen Markt für Gewerbeimmobilien

Press Release

MainTor Quarter: major letting contract of around 14,000 sqm to Union Investment

Frankfurt, 10.01.2012

• Significant progress in letting and construction
• Construction of MainTor Porta subproject to start in Q1 2012
  

DIC has let around 14,000 sqm (or roughly 70 percent of the entire lettable area) of its MainTor Porta office complex at the future MainTor Quarter to Union Asset Management Holding AG (“Union Investment”). Start of the lease term is spring 2014. The company thus closed the largest new letting contract of 2011 in downtown Frankfurt.

Construction for the MainTor Porta subproject to start in Q1 2012
Owing to this letting success, the preconditions for starting the second subproject of Frankfurt’s MainTor Quarter are all in place: Construction work with a project volume of approximately 140 million Euros will already commence in Q1 2012, and is scheduled to be completed in Q1 2014 after a two-year construction period. Forming a new riverside financial district in Frankfurt’s CBD, the MainTor Quarter is being developed as a series of five separate subprojects of varying size to be realised successively but independently of one another. In each case, the start of construction is paced by the marketing progress of the respective subproject. The MainTor Porta office scheme is located in direct proximity of MainTor Primus, whose construction is already under way – following a successful marketing drive in summer 2011. The well-respected architectural firm masterminding the evolving new estate is KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten.

A sound financial-sector tenant with long-term orientation
As asset manager of the cooperative finance group, Union Asset Management Holding AG counts among Germany’s largest financial service providers. The company just rented the entire plinth building of MainTor Porta, which also includes the first seven of the upper floors of the integrated office tower. The letting contract also includes an option of prolongation.

The letting effort was facilitated by BNP Paribas Real Estate and Jones Lang LaSalle in brokering and consulting roles. The MainTor Porta-subproject will be financed by a consortium of banks led by Deutsche Hypothekenbank (“Deutsche Hypo”).

Said Ulrich Höller, CEO of DIC: “It is a pleasure to see the faith that the new tenant has shown in our project and our professional management. This major signing clearly showcases MainTor Quarter as an attractive future component of Frankfurt’s financial district in riverside location. The swift progress that the marketing of MainTor Quarter is making means that we are right on track with the project development, and this in currently difficult economic times.”

About the MainTor Porta subproject
The MainPorta office building is situated in a prominent corner location including a forecourt on Weissfrauenstrasse, and characterised by easy transportation access due to its proximity to the Hotel Frankfurter Hof and to the underground hub of Willy-Brandt-Platz. Standing 70 metres tall, the building has a letting space of around 20,000 sqm in commercial space, spread across 19 floors. Distinguishing features of Porta include its prestigious three-storey lobby, a landscaped and accessible inner courtyard, and several rooftop terraces commanding a spectacular view. Given its location and its design, MainTor Porta integrates seamlessly into Frankfurt’s CBD, which translates into short commutes and swift communication with the financial district for the tenants in residence.

Development of MainTor Quarter progresses according to plan
As a reminder: As early as August of this year, the first construction stage of MainTor Quarter commenced with the demolition work across the entire area following the sale of the MainTor Primus building complex to the Frankfurt-based private investors Carlo Giersch in June. Next, work on the Primus building, involving a new fit-out and design for the fully gutted core and shell, started in October 2011. The office scheme is slated for completion by mid-2013, and DIC itself will relocate its headquarters here. DIC Group holds a 60 percent interest in the overall project, the remaining 40 percent being owned by DIC Asset AG.

About MainTor – the Riverside Financial District
The MainTor Quarter project of DIC Group is nothing less than the complete redevelopment of the area extending from Untermainkai to Weissfrauenstrasse. Formerly an enclosed compound, the estate is being developed not just by raising new structures, but by restoring it to the public realm and by firmly integrating into the surrounding city ward again through walkways and streets. Architectonically speaking, MainTor Quarter will upgrade the riverbank facing Frankfurt’s CBD into a riverside financial district and thereby complete it in urban development terms. MainTor Quarter is scheduled to be completed in its entirety by 2015.

DIC – expertise for urban development in Frankfurt
Having played an active role in the development of Frankfurt’s urban architecture through any number of projects, DIC is a real estate investor with long-term expertise on the city’s real estate market. In 2004, for instance, DIC acquired nearly five dozen branches of the Frankfurter Sparkasse savings bank, and rededicated many of them for alternative use. DIC projects of recent years include such prestigious venues as the municipal library, the Bienenkorbhaus edifice, the Nespresso building on Goethe-Strasse or the Grünhof complex.

About DIC
DIC (Deutsche Immobilien Chancen), active throughout Germany and based in Frankfurt, was founded in 1998 and, with its innovative investment philosophy and its focus on the German market, is one of the most prominent and successful firms in Germany specialising in commercial real estate transactions. Its business activities include portfolio and asset management, which are handled by its SDAX-listed company, DIC Asset AG, as well as project development and opportunistic investments. It currently holds approximately 40 per cent of DIC Asset AG. The real estate assets managed by the DIC Group currently amount to around EUR 3.3 billion. Its shareholders are investment companies, several insurance companies, international investors and family offices.

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