Geneva: Safra Sarasin buys office building from BNP Paribas
According to media reports, the J. Safra Sarasin banking group has bought an office building from BNP Paribas in the centre of Geneva and leased it back to the financial group.
Like Finews.ch reports, J. Safra Sarasin has purchased an office complex used by BNP Paribas on Place de Hollande in Geneva. According to information from the French-speaking Swiss business magazine Bilan the price was CHF 275 million. JLL was the exclusive transaction manager for BNP Paribas; the deal is one of the largest single-asset transactions in Switzerland this year. According to Finews BNP Paribas Suisse acquired the building from the Cantonal Bank of Geneva in 2004 and paid 80 million at the time.
According to the newspaper reports, BNP Paribas is said to have negotiated a sale-and-lease-back agreement with J. Safra Sarasin and will therefore remain in the building, at least in part. Apparently, the entire premises had become too big for BNP Paribas, partly because of the Corona pandemic and because BNP Paribas Suisse had reduced the number of employees by a quarter over the past two years, according to the report. Finews. (ah)
