A major Canadian pension fund has bought a Paris property for €263 million

One of the largest Canadian pension funds has acquired a property in Paris’s rue Blanche (9^th arrondissement – district) from the Carlyle Group for €263 million.

Oxford Properties Group is the real estate arm of massive Ontario fund Omers. The acquisition of the 72,000m² building marks the start of its campaign to expand into continental Europe.

Oxford already owns real estate worth €3 billion in London, where it has concentrated its focus since 2008. Now, it plans to spend €1.5 billion building up its Paris portfolio over the next three to five years.

The company indicated that it will focus on assets where it can drive value through active asset management. It sees “the prospect for significant growth to come through infrastructure improvements and a broader economic recovery”. Oxford intends to consider properties in the La Défense business district, as well as in central Paris.

As we have recently reported, this is the latest in a series of property portfolio acquisitions in Paris in 2014. Investment in French commercial real estate added up to around €11 billion between January and June this year, a 60% increase on the same period in 2013. A quarter of investment came from foreign sources.