(Bloomberg) -- Private equity investment firm Cinven is pursuing the sale of a portfolio of prime real estate in Germany that could fetch as much as 2.75 billion euros ($3 billion).
The deal includes offices, stores and apartments in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It was initially marketed at about 2.2 billion euros when investors first began assessing the properties during the summer, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.
German real estate is booming as European investors grapple with negative interest rates and search out higher yielding assets. That has helped intensify competition for the portfolio.
Allianz SE, Blackstone Group Inc., CBRE Global Investors, Commerz Real AG and Union Investment Real Estate GmbH are among investors that submitted bids for part or all of the portfolio earlier this week, the people said.
Viridium Group GmbH & Co KG, a life insurance portfolio manager that's majority owned by Cinven, acquired the properties when it bought nearly 90% of a German unit of Assicurazioni Generali SpA earlier this year, the people said. Cinven owns 80% of Viridium and the remainder is held by Hannover Re.
Representatives of Allianz, Blackstone, CBRE Global Investors, Cinven, Commerz Real, Union Investment Real Estate and Viridium declined to comment.
BNP Paribas SA is advising on the sale, the people said. A BNP Paribas spokeswoman declined to comment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net;Jan-Henrik Förster in London at jforster20@bloomberg.net;Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry
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