Norges Bank Investment Management has bought its first properties in Munich on its own.

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has paid AM Alpha €176.1m for two office assets in the centre of the German city.

The deal is the fund’s first German purchase without a partner.

Siegmut Boehm, managing director at AM Alpha, said: “We had overwhelming interest when we started the bidding process from both international and domestic investors, and we are glad to have chosen a top financial institution like Norges Bank Investment Management as an investor for our prime properties.”

Norges is likely to retain its interest in the two Lenbach Gärten properties – which total 29,000sqm – for some time.

The two assets are let to McKinsey & Co and Conde Nast.

AM Alpha has kept a 5.1% stake in the two properties for a co-investment fund it advises.

The firm will manage the co-investment vehicle, which will buy stakes in German real estate.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund began stepping up acquisitions in ‘core’ Europe in 2012, entering the German real estate market via a €784m joint venture with AXA REIM. 

The fund’s first German acquisitions were in Berlin and Frankfurt – a primarily retail asset in the German capital and a second combining office and retail in Frankfurt’s central business district.

A spokeswoman at NBIM at the time said the German market would form an important long-term focus for its real estate portfolio, alongside the UK and France.

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