Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has provided comprehensive legal advice to Korean Hyundai Asset Management Co., Ltd. ("Hyundai") on its acquisition of the former corporate headquarter of Lufthansa in Cologne-Deutz by way of a share deal. The seller is a real estate fund managed by M&G Real Estate.

The property, with a rental area of around 20,400 square metres, is leased for 15 years to Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben, which in turn sublets it to Bundesamt für Familie und zivilgesellschaftliche Aufgaben.

"The transaction not only demonstrates the sustained interest of South Korean investors in the German real estate market, but also their particular focus on large, single-tenant properties with top-tier tenants. We will certainly see more of these transactions with South Korean participation soon," said Gerold Jaeger, who led the transaction at Clifford Chance.

Founded in 2008, Hyundai acted as asset manager for a South Korean investor club led by Mirae Asset Daewoo in this transaction. Deloitte Paris’ team for international real estate investment advisory initiated and supported the off-market transaction for Hyundai in collaboration with Deloitte Anjin in Seoul. Asset manager L'Etoile Properties, who also arranged the financing through Postbank, will be responsible for the future property and asset management of the property.

The Clifford Chance team comprised partner Gerold Jaeger, the associates Philip Heinzel and Arne Gerber and senior transaction lawyer Katrin Rötering (all Real Estate, Düsseldorf), partner Olaf Mertgen, counsels Cord von Mandelsloh and Dominik Thomer, associate Steffen Waadt (all Tax, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf), partner Christian Vogel, senior associate Simon Schmid, associate Ribana Piontek (all Corporate, Düsseldorf), partner Tobias Schulten, associate Julija Haas (both Banking & Capital Markets, Frankfurt) as well as partner François-Xavier Dujardin and Simon Paran (both Tax, Luxembourg).