Norton Rose Fulbright advises Real I.S. on property acquisition

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised real estate investment manager Real I.S. AG (Real I.S.) on the purchase of the logistics property “Karlsruhe South” in Durmersheim in Baden-Württemberg for a group of institutional investors. The seller Panattoni Europe, a full-service developer of logistics and industrial properties, will continue to provide property management services.

Real I.S. is one of the leading German providers of real estate investment services for private and institutional investors. It manages real estate worth around €8 billion in 11 countries. Real I.S.’ current investment focuses are Germany, Europe and Australia. The Group, with asset management and property management units in Berlin, Hamburg, Jena, Leipzig and Dresden, is a subsidiary of BayernLB and part of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe network. Sparkasse Karlsruhe is the financing partner in this transaction.

The “Karlsruhe Süd” logistics centre known as Panattoni Park in Durmersheim near Rastatt consists of three halls on a 22,000 square metre site with 10 truck parking spaces. The facility was completed in 2019 and was awarded the DGNB Gold sustainability certificate of the German Sustainable Building Council. It is leased long-term in equal parts to the Seifert Logistik Group and the pharmaceutical company Dr. Willmar Schwabe. The facility also includes a cold hall and a loading tunnel with an area of around 820 square metres as an intermediate storage facility and for loading and unloading trucks from the side. The site is located at the Durmersheim railway station near Karlsruhe and is optimally connected to the B 36 federal road and the A 5 motorway.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by the Munich real estate partner Dr. Maren Stölting, assisted by counsels Sabine Meinert and Dr. Martin Hoffmann, senior associate Valentina Navetta and associate Jürgen Schlinkmann. Frankfurt partner Martin Krause advised on investment-related legal issues. Tax advice was provided by partner Dr. Uwe Eppler and associates Julia Gallinger and Patricia Machula in Hamburg and Tino Duttiné.

Real I.S. was legally represented in-house by Thomas Elske, Head of Legal Affairs, and Julia Straßer.