Patron Capital Enters Belgian Market With Brussels Office Acquisition

BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Patron Capital, the pan-European institutional investor focused on property-backed investments, alongside its joint-venture partner Suprema, has acquired the Aramis Building, located in the corporate village in Brussels’ Airport District.

The modern, 11-storey building, which was completed in 2009, comprises 18,787 sq m (202,000 sq ft) of office space, 376 parking spaces, an impressive reception area with concierge, shared meeting room facilities and an on-site café and restaurant. It is located 1.5km from Brussels Airport, which provides flights to around 250 destinations. It offers fast access to the main ring road around the city as well as the motorway network connecting to the centre of Brussels and other national and European destinations. It is also 800 metres from Zaventem rail station, with trains departing for the city centre every 20 minutes, while eight public bus lines stop regularly at the site.

The Airport District is an increasingly popular location for international businesses, with Canon, Cisco, Deloitte, Samsung, Toyota, 3M, EY, KPMG, IBM, and HP all located nearby. Further local infrastructure projects in the pipeline, including new cycle routes and new tram lines connecting the airport with the city centre and the northern districts of Brussels, are set to make the area even more attractive. Brussels Airport’s expansion and improvement plans, which have the potential to double the number of jobs on and around the airport site by 2040 are also set to benefit this location.

The building is 32% let to tenants including job site Indeed, medical technology firm Avanos, ICT services provider Cheops Technology, medical technology firm Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, and flexible workspace provider Interoffices.

Funding for the acquisition came from Patron Capital’s recently closed Fund VI.

Christoph Ignaczak, Investment Director and Senior Partner at Patron Capital, said:

“The Aramis building offers an excellent opportunity for us to enter the Belgian market, alongside our partner Suprema, with whom we have already worked on successful projects in Germany. The Airport District has seen continuous rental growth since 2012 and has consistently outperformed take-up activity in most CBD sub-markets. It also has strong long-term prospects thanks to new transport infrastructure, a growing trend of occupiers moving to non-city-centre locations, and limited availability of Grade A space. With the building only a third occupied, we see significant potential to attract new tenants by upgrading the space, improving the levels of service and amenity, and through active asset management.”

Daniel Cukierman, Managing Partner of Suprema, said:

“With growing demand for space in the Airport District, we are excited to complete this deal with Patron Capital that will see us working together to improve and reposition this asset, bringing approximately 13,000 sq m (140,000 sq ft) of currently vacant high-quality office space to the market. Our focus will be on creating an environment that provides the flexibility, service and amenities modern occupiers want in a post-Covid world.”

About Patron Capital

Patron represents approximately €4.3 billion of capital across several funds and related co-investments, investing in property, corporate operating entities whose value is primarily supported by property assets and distressed debt and credit related businesses.

Since it was established in 1999, Patron has undertaken more than 170 transactions across 84 investments and programs involving over 65 million square feet (6 million square metres) in 16 countries, with many of these investments realised.

Investors represent a variety of sovereign wealth funds, prominent universities, major institutions, private foundations, and high net worth individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The main investment adviser to the Funds is Patron Capital Advisers LLP, which is based in London, and Patron has other offices across Europe including Barcelona and Luxembourg; the group is comprised of 71 people, including a 40-person investment team.

www.patroncapital.com