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Abu Dhabi Fund Said to Plan $1.7 Billion Paris Properties Sale

Abu Dhabi Fund Said to Plan $1.7 Billion Paris Properties Sale

(Bloomberg) -- The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign-wealth funds, is seeking offers for Paris office buildings valued at 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) to cash in on increased investor appetite for French assets, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

ADIA, as the fund is known, hired broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc. to market the properties, the people said, asking not to be identified because any deal would be private. The portfolio comprises 6-8 Boulevard Haussmann, a 24,000 square-meter (258,300 square-foot) office building leased to French bank BPI France, as well as a building in the La Defense business district and a third office in another prime area of Paris.

Spokesmen for ADIA and Cushman & Wakefield declined to comment.

Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Carlyle Group LP have been encouraged to invest in areas such as La Defense, the largest office district in Europe, because they can build or renovate relatively cheaply. Take-up of office space in the French capital reached a record 330,200 square meters in the fourth quarter, according to broker Savills Plc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sharon Smyth in London at ssmyth2@bloomberg.net, Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong