GIC buys billion-dollar US headquarters of Deutsche Bank on Wall Street

SINGAPORE - GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, has bought a 95 per cent stake in 60 Wall Street, a 47-storey tower in New York City's financial district of lower Manhattan that serves as the US headquarters of Deutsche Bank.

The deal values the 1.6 million-square-foot (148,600-square-metre) skyscraper at US$1.04 billion (S$1.48 billion), or about US$640 a square foot, GIC and seller Paramount Group said in a joint statement on Wednesday (Jan 25).

Paramount, a New York-based real estate investment trust, will retain a 5 per cent stake and continue to manage the property. In connection with the deal, the joint venture completed a US$575 million financing of the tower.

The property is 100 per cent leased to Deutsche Bank. The bank's lease of the building expires in 2022, according to Bloomberg News.

60 Wall Street. PHOTO: GIC

Adam Gallistel, GIC's regional head of Americas, said, "We believe 60 Wall Street is one of the top buildings in downtown (Manhattan) and is poised to benefit from the ongoing downtown renaissance. We are also very happy to expand our partnership with Paramount, which is among the leading owners, operators and managers of Class A office properties in the US."

In November, Deutsche Bank said it planned to overhaul its offices at the tower, which it bought in 2001, then sold to Paramount in 2007 and leased back, said Bloomberg.

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