P+P advises Union Investment on the acquisition of the shopping center "Rathaus-Galerie" in Leverkusen

Union Investment acquired the shopping center "Rathaus-Galerie" (City Hall Gallery) in Leverkusen for the open real estate fund UniImmo: Europa. The seller of the center, which opened in 2010 with retail space of around 36,300 m², was the open-ended CS EUROREAL real estate fund, managed by CREDIT SUISSE ASSET MANAGEMENT Immobilien KAG.

The transaction also includes an adjacent property directly connected to the City Hall Gallery. Both properties are part of the so-called "Melody" portfolio, which Union Investment had already secured in December 2016 by way of a purchase contract. The center is equipped with a total of 121 stores. The largest retailers for this property are H&M, C&A, Saturn and Thalia. The center will still be supervised by ECE Projektmanagement after the change of ownership.

P+P Pöllath + Partners advised Union Investment on all tax issues related to the German properties in the "Melody" portfolio with the following team:

• Dr. Hardy Fischer (lead, partner, tax)
• Sören Reckwardt (counsel, tax)
• Delia Maria Matyschok (associate, tax, all Berlin).

Mathias Mischke was the responsible in-house tax counsel for Union Investment and Sebastian Orthmann of CMS advised Union Investment with regard to the civil law aspects of the acquisition.