Keppel Capital unit, Allianz Real Estate acquires office building in Shanghai for US$48m

KEPPEL Capital, through a fund managed by its subsidiary Alpha Investment Partners, has partnered with Allianz Real Estate and another co-investor to acquire a prime office building in Shanghai for about US$48 million.

The building, Bay Valley C6, is located in Shanghai's Bay Valley Business Park and has a total aboveground gross floor area of 19,768 square metres.

Alpha's Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund III (AAMTF III) entered a joint venture agreement to subscribe to a 48 per cent stake in Bay Valley C6.

Allianz, which is an investor of AAMTF III, will hold a 41.5 per cent stake and the remaining 10.5 per cent stake will be held by another investor of AAMTF III.

Eric Goh, chief executive (China) of Keppel Capital, said: "The acquisition of the strategically located Bay Valley C6, which is seeing growing demand from companies in the biomedical and technology, media and telecommunications  sectors, is an excellent addition to AAMTF III, given the positive outlook of Shanghai's technology industry."

Rushabh Desai, chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific at Allianz Real Estate, said: "This transaction is aligned with our approach of investing in China's new economy, which has successfully transformed from a manufacturing-driven economy to a more balanced service-based economy. We are also excited about the long-term prospects of Shanghai as a 24x7 gateway city."

The acquired office property is less than 10 minutes' drive away from Wujiaochang, and is in close proximity to the campus of Fudan University in the New Jiangwan area.

Its accessibility will be further enhanced when the extensions of metro line 10 as well as Middle Ring Road-Jungong Road are completed, expected to be in end-2018.