This deal was accompanied by Cushman & Wakefield, who worked with the seller and Entreposto Gestão Imobiliária, a company which will remain in the building as one of the long term tenants, beside AXA, C. Santos (Mercedes-Benz), Aldi, and Adecco. JLL acted on behalf of the purchaser.
Luís Pedro Reis, vice-president of the Entreposto Group, commented in a communiqué that «this deal is part of our deleverage exercise and the reorganisation of balance and activity. The group has experienced sustained growth in Portugal in its principal activities (automobiles and machinery), which will be the focus for the future, and will remain as such with the building by the leasing of the various concessions», he explains.
In turn, Duarte Guerreiro, general director of Entreposto Imobiliária, notes that «the property was originally built and used for industrial activities. However, after a total remodelling in 2002 and thanks to its efficient layout and ample floor space, the building attracted the attention of an emerging business at the time, call e contact centres».
For Pedro Coelho, Managing Director of Square Asset Management, believes that «it makes complete sense to form a partnership with an international investor like Signal Capital, which has more than two decades of experience in the local market. We believe that this partnership will be mutually beneficial, especially in a project with so much potential to increase value in a creative way».
Luís Rocha Antunes, partner and director of Markets at C&W, stresses that «the Lisbon office market presents a variety of added value opportunities, thanks to an improvement in the occupiers’ market. Lisbon is an ever more attractive destination for near shoring and the outsourcing of top of the range business processes, and this strong demand from people seeking to rent is feeding sustainable rent growth».
Fernando Ferreira, director of the local investment team at JLL, states that «the Portuguese investment market has grown in size, in the number of investors and in appealing opportunities. We believe that this is a sustainable tendency which will last for the next few years with a growing number of active local and international investors, thus creating a more fluid and interesting market».
The Edifício Entreposto is in the Oriental zone of Lisboa, between the Parque das Nações and the airport. It covers an area of 48,000m².