8 January 2008 - MGPA, a private equity real estate fund management company, and Générale Continentale Investissements have agreed to sell the Capitale Sud building in Montrouge, Paris, to Unéo, a French mutual fund, for an amount of 64 million euros. 

MGPA entered a joint venture, on behalf of one of its European Funds, with GCI to acquire Capitale Sud as a vacant building in September 2006.

This investment represented an excellent "buy-fix-sell" opportunity.  Since acquisition, the property has been completely refurbished, providing a considerably more modern appearance both on the outside and throughout the interior.  An air conditioning system has been installed whilst at the same time the ceiling heights have generally been increased to bring it up to modern standards. 

Alex Jeffrey, MGPA’s Europe CEO said: “At the time of this investment, we identified Paris as one of the strongest performing markets in Europe. This has proven to be the case, and MGPA remains confident that further strong returns can be generated in this market including through our other investment, Le Balthazar in Saint-Denis. Capitale Sud was our first investment with GCI, and we are extremely happy to have together managed to bring the building to institutional standards, and successfully attracted Uneo’s interest.
“We are continuing to see attractive acquisition opportunities in a diverse range of locations and real estate sectors throughout France and anticipate making further announcements about acquisitions in the near future,” said Mr Jeffrey. 

Sharon Raingold Managing Director of GCI adds: “We are delighted with the successful outcome of this deal which was the first of our acquisitions in joint venture with MGPA. We’re looking forward to the finalisation of our second deal together, the Balthazar building in Saint-Denis, Paris.”

For this transaction, MGPA and GCI were advised by Keops and AtisReal, Gide Loyrette Nouel and Roussel Notary. Uneo were advised by Mobilitis and Notary Oudot.