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Non-Traded REIT Acquires German Property

Glesenkirchen, Germany is home to a property now owned by W.P. Carey’s sponsored non-traded REIT, CPA®:17 – Global. Formed in 2007 the REIT focuses on acquiring commercial property that it leases to companies domestically and internationally.

CPA®:17 – Global has acquired a “big box” retail facility or hypermarket. A hypermarket is known in the U.S. as a superstore that combines both a supermarket and a department store. The facility is leased to Real, a subsidiary of German conglomerate Metro AG, and the largest hypermarket operator in Germany. Germany is the largest national economy in Europe and Metro AG is its largest food retail player. The company is considered stable and mature by major rating agencies.

Wolfgang Baumgartinger, Head of Corporate Transactions, METRO PROPERTIES, stated, “Having worked with W. P. Carey in the past, this transaction again demonstrated their ability to structure a deal that met our requirements and provided capital on a timely basis. We were delighted to complete this transaction and grow our relationship with W. P. Carey.”

Situated along a main connection route between Gelsenkirchen’s city center and residential areas, the 128,253 square-foot facility sits on 7.5 acres of land and includes 440 parking spaces. The hypermarket has been operating and performing strongly at this location for about 40 years.

Arvi Luoma, Director of W. P. Carey, commented, “This transaction offered the opportunity for CPA®:17 – Global to acquire a stable retail asset with an attractive risk-adjusted yield and subject to a long-term triple net-lease. While we believe retail in the United States is in many instances overbuilt, big box retail in Europe—in this case, Germany—with strong credits is a far more attractive opportunity. Having completed a transaction with Metro in Italy in 2011, we are pleased to expand upon this relationship and release capital from this asset that can now be deployed into Metro’s operating business.”

Closed to new investors since December 2012, as of June 30, 2014 CPA®:17 – Global’s portfolio was comprised of full or partial ownership interests in 358 properties. Substantially all properties were triple-net leased to 108 tenants, and totaled nearly 34 million square feet.