MERLIN Properties acquires an office building at the World Trade Center Almeda Park (Barcelona) for 46.75 million euros

• This modern and efficient class-A building has a gross leasable area (GLA) of 14,535 m2 and is fully let out to blue chip tenants such as Axa Seguros and Sharp Electronics

• With this purchase, MERLIN has invested 1,056 million euros of the 1,291 million euros raised from its stock market listing, and now has 82% of its capital put to work

MERLIN Properties Socimi, S.A., (“MERLIN”) (MC:MRL) one of the principle real estate companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange and specialised in the acquisition and management of commercial real estate assets in the Iberian region, has announced today the acquisition of an office building located in the World Trade Center Almeda Park (WTCAP) business park for 46.75 million euros. The building was purchased from UBS Real Estate Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbh Sucursal en España, acting on its own account and also on the account of open-ended real estate fund “UBS (D) 3 Sector Real Estate Europe. The purchase of this modern and efficient class-A building is in line with MERLIN’s strategy of focussing on quality assets with long-term price increase potential.

The building has a GLA of 14,535 m2, distributed over a ground floor and four upper levels. The building is also equipped with 1,000 m2 of storage space and 213 parking spaces. The property is fully let out with long-term lease contracts to blue chip multinationals such as Axa Seguros, Sharp Electronics and Eclipse Support.

The property is located in Cornellá de Llobregat (Barcelona) and forms part of the well-established WTCAP business park, which is made up of 7 office buildings with a total surface area of approximately 90,000 m2. This strategic location, just 15 minutes from the centre of Barcelona and 10 minutes from the city’s airport, coupled with its excellent connections (Ronda Litoral, Ronda de Dalt and A-2 roads) has attracted prestigious multinational companies such as Colt Telecom, Revlon, Alstom, Panasonic and Schweppes to this business park.

The acquisition price reflects an initial net yield, according to EPRA recommendations, of 7.4% (“EPRA topped-up Net Initial Yield”, excluding rent grace periods). Following this acquisition, MERLIN’s portfolio of properties, which now boasts a GLA of over 500,000 m2, generates gross rental income of 110 million euros per annum.