Riverview office building in Smíchov, home to MSD’s headquarters, has a new owner

Riverview office building in Prague’s Smíchov district has changed hands. The seller was US-based Invesco Real Estate, while the buyer was a real estate fund from the Amundi group, into which Komerční banka clients invest. The transaction value was not disclosed, but according to available information, the price was in the hundreds of millions of Czech korunas.

The building and its tenant

Riverview stands in the immediate vicinity of the Vltava River, offering views of the river, Prague Castle and Vyšehrad. The building was completed in 2014 by developer Skanska Property, next to the emerging Smíchov City district on the site of a former freight railway station. The property offers over 7,000 m² of lettable space and holds LEED Gold and BREEAM Very Good certifications.

The vast majority of the space – approximately 90% – is occupied by global pharmaceutical company MSD, which has been based at Riverview since 2015 and operates its global IT centre there, focused on developing technologies for healthcare. Before the building was sold, MSD extended its lease and, together with the landlord, invested in modernising the office interiors.

Buyer’s representative: acquisition is in line with the fund’s strategy

Jozef Murza, a representative of the real estate division of Amundi Czech Republic, said the acquisition was in line with the REF4 fund’s focus on high-quality, long-term leased assets with stable returns. He also cited the building’s strong ESG credentials as one of the reasons for the purchase.

The REF4 fund (Realitní fond KB 4) is a closed-end mutual fund operated by Amundi Czech Republic for qualified investors, with a minimum investment of one million Czech korunas. It focuses primarily on properties serving the accommodation sector – retirement homes, rental housing, student residences and hotels – while a smaller part of the portfolio is also to comprise more modern office buildings. Riverview is the first property added to the fund’s portfolio.

The previous owner, Invesco, had owned the building since 2014, when it purchased it from developer Skanska Property for EUR 20 million (equivalent to approximately CZK 550 million at the time).

Domestic capital continues to buy

The sale of Riverview fits into the broader picture of recent years: the vast majority of commercial real estate transactions in the Czech Republic are currently driven by domestic capital, while foreign investors are more often on the selling side. Last year and at the beginning of this year, Amundi itself sold four properties from another fund, while acquiring the B&B Hotel in Prague. A similar pattern is confirmed by last year’s sale of the Stará Celnice building, which was bought from Invesco by the domestic Fio real estate fund for the equivalent of CZK 1.6 billion.

Source: Hospodářské noviny